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THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


THE  LIFE  AND  SERVICES 


-OF- 


EX-GOVERNOR  CHARLES  JONES  JENI 


1 


BY 


CHARLES  COLCOCK  JONES,  Jr.,  LL.D. 


ATLANTA.QA.: 
JAS.  P.  HARRISON  &  Co.,  PRINTERS  AMD  BINDERS. 

1884. 


THE  LIFE  AND  SERVICES 


P-bram  CHARLES  JONES  JENKINS. 


A  MEMORIAL  ADDRESS 

Delivered  before  the  General  Assembly  of  Georgia, 
in  the  Hall  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives, at  the  Capitol,  in  Atlanta, 
on  the  23d  of  July,  1883: 


BY 

CHARLES  C:VJONES,  Jr.,  LL.D. 


ARDU1S  FIDELIS. 


ATLANTA,  GEORGIA  : 

JAS.  P.  HARRISON-  &  Co.,  PRINTERS  AND  PCBLISHERS 

1884. 


Resolved  by  the  Senate,  the  House  of  Representatives  concurring 
that  the  thanks  of  the  General  Assembly  be  tendered  to  the  Hon  G' 
J.  Jones,  Jr.,  for  the  learned,  able,  and  eloquent  address  delivered 
efore  the  General  Assembly  on  the  occasion  of  the  Memorial  Exer- 
cises in  honor  of  Ex-Govenror  Charles  J.  Jenkins. 

Resolved,  further,  that  five  hundred  copies  of  the  address  be  printed 
for  distribution  among  the  members. 

JAMES   S.   BOYNTON, 

President  of  the  Senate. 
W.M.  AUGUSTUS  HARRIS, 
Secretary  of  the  Senate. 

W.    R.   RANKIN, 

Pro.tem.  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives. 
M.  A.  IIARDIN, 

Clerk  of  the  House  of  Representatives. 


550660 


Ho.     I      8      7  I    -07 


MEMORIAL  ADDRESS. 


Mr.  President,  Gentlemen  of  the  General  Assembly  of 
Georgia,  Ladies,  and  Fellow-citizens  : 

The  characters  and  acts  of  those  who  influenced  the  cur- 
rent of  public  events,  were  complimented  with  positions  of 
trust  and  honor,  maintained  an  exalted  standard  of  excel- 
lence in  the  community  in  which  they  resided,  and  promot- 
the  mental,  moral,  and  mat«riaj  development  of  their  age 
State,  are   eminently.;  werfny  gf  narration.     Meet  it 
is  that  exhibitions  of  superior  virtue,  marked  intelligence 
and  unusual  endowments^oiil^notfe  forgotten.     A  live- 
ly  remembrance   and  a   faithful   record   of  them  will  be 
deemed  a  matter  of  simple  justice  to  those  whose  sphere  of 
ife  was  embellished  by  their  display,  will  be  regarded  as  a 
loyal    acknowledgment    from  contemporaries  who  shared 
their  confidence,  were  elevated  by  their  companionship,  and 
were  witnesses  of  their  nobleness,  and  will  constitute  an 
abiding  ensample  for  the  guidance  and  the  emulation  of 
coming  generations.     Great  men  are  the  glory  of  the 
Purity,  honesty,  courage,  fidelity  and  patriotism 
•e  cardinal  traits,  and  that  life  is  precious  which  was  di«r- 
mfied  by  a  constant  and  illustrious  manifestation  of  them" 
I  ecuharly  grateful  is  the  retrospect,   most  pleasincr  the 
recollection,  when  the  virtues  of  which  we  speak  were  ap- 
parent in  our  own  times;  when  the  exalted  manhood  and 
excellences   we  register  appertain   to  our  immediate 
annals. 


6  I. [ft    <ti«l  -S /vvVc.s'  of  Hon.   C.  J.  J<  nk'm, s-. 

And  now,  in  the  beautiful  language  of  another,  we 
"  hardly  know  what  measure  to  observe  in  our  praises  of 
him  who  was  singularly  averse  to  over-statement,  who  never 
listened  approvingly  to  flattery  when  living,  and  whose 
iremory  asks  only  the  white  roses  of  truth  for  its  funeral 
garlands."* 

The  Hon.  CHARLES  JONES  JENKINS  was  born  upon  the 
paternal  plantation  known  as  the  "  Orimball  IJill  Place" 
in  Beaufort  District,  South  Carolina,  on  the  Oth  of  January, 
1805.  His  father,  whose  full  name  he  bore,  at  the  time  of 
the  birth  of  the  subject  of  this  memorial,  was  the  Ordinary 
of  Beaufort  District.  To  that  office  had  he  been  elected  by 
the  General  Assembly  of  the  State.  Prior  to  this,  he  had 
for  some  years  tilled  the  office  of  Clerk  of  the  Court  of 
Common  .Pleas.  In  1816  he  removed  to  Jeff  ere  on  county, 
Georgia,  where  he  purchased  a  tract  of  land  and  led  the 
quiet  life  of  a  planter. 

A  year  or  two  previous  to  this  change  of  residence,  young 
Jenkins  had  been  put  to  school  in  Savannah,  where  the  ad- 
vantages for  acquiring  an  education  were  deemed  most 
favorable.  Being  an  only  child,  and  of  a  thoughtful, 
studious  habit,  his  parents  were  solicitous  that  he  s-hould 
enjoy  instruction  at  the  hands  of  the  best  teachers  within 
convenient  reach.  To  that  end  he  was  at  one  time  a  pupil 
of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Sweet  in  Bryan  county  ;  at  another,  of  Mr. 
Beman  at  Mount  Zion,  in  Hancock  county  ;  and  finally,  of 
Dr.  Moses  Waddell.  When  Mr.  Jenkins  entered  the  Will- 
ington  Academy,  in  Abbeville  District,  South  Carolina,  Dr. 
Waddell  had  in  large  measure  entrusted  its  conduct  to  his 
eon,  reserving  to  himself  only  a  general  supervision  over  it. 
This  was  and  had  been  a  noted  institution  of  learning. 
John  C.  Calhoun,  McDnffie,  Pettigru,  Longstreet,  and 
others  scarcely  less  distinguished,  had  sat  upon  its  benches, 
and  there  acquired  that  preliminary  education  which  con- 

*Dr.  O.  W.  Holmes'  eulogy  upon  Emerson,  May'll,  -832 


Life  and  Services  of  Hon.   C.  J.  Jenkins. 

duced   so   surely   to   their   intellectual    development    and 
professional  success  in  after  years. 

While  Mr.   Jenkins  was  a  pupil  at  this  academy,  Dr. 
Waddell  received  and  accepted  a  call  to  the  presidency  of 
Franklin  College,  at  Athens,  Georgia.     Accompanying  Dr. 
Waddell,  he  repaired  to  that  town  and,  in  1819,  entered  the 
grammar  school   for   the   completion    of    his  preparatory 
studies.   The  following  year  he  matriculated  as  a  Freshman 
half  advanced.     Until  February,  1822,  he  continued  to  pur- 
sue his  studies  as  a  member  of  Franklin  College.     He  then 
took  his  dismission  and  entered  Union  College,  at  Schenec- 
tady,  New  York.   Dr.  EliphaletNott  was  then  the  president 
of  this  institution,  which  enjoyed  an  enviable   reputation. 
Graduating  third  on  the  merit  roll  of  his  class,  Mr.  Jenkins 
received  his  diploma  from  that  college  in  1824.     He  was  a 
member  of  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  Society  ;  and,  just  fifty  years 
after  graduation,  responding  to  an  invitation,  he  delivered 
the  anniversary  address  before  that  society  within  the  walls 
of  his  alma  mater.     Senator  Ira  Harris,  a  classmate,  who 
had  borne  off  the  first  honors  a  half  century  agone,  was 
present  on  this  interesting  occasion  and  introduced   Gov. 
Jenkins  to  the  vast  audience  there  assembled.     Intermtdi- 
ately  he  had  been  complimented  by  Union   College  with 
the  degree  of  LL.  D.,  and  he  stood  before  that  multitude 
crowned  with  honors  and  full  of  years. 

His  collegiate  course  ended.  Mr.  Jenkins  returned  to 
Georgia  and  became  a  student  of  law  in  the  office  of  the  Hon. 
J.  McPherson  JBerrien,  in  Savannah.  Judge  Berrien  had  re- 
tired from  the  bench  of  the  Superior  Courts  of  the  Eastern 
Circuit,  and  was  then  in  the  enjoyment  of  a  lucrative  and 
influential  practice.  Warmly  did  he  welcome  Mr.  Jenkins, 
and  careful  was  the  attention  bestowed  by  this  distinguished 
jutist  upon  the  legal  training  of  his  young  friend,  who  spent 
most  of  his  time  in  the  private  study  and  law  office  at  the 
residence  of  the  Judge.  Under  such  favoring  circumstances, 
the  progress  made  in  mastering  the  principles  of  the  learned 


>          Life  and  Services  of  Hon.  C.  J.  Jenkins. 

profession  to  which  he  had  given  his  allegiance  was  rapid 
and  satisfactory.  Within  the  entire  circle  of  the  profession 
no  more  capable  instructor  could  have  been  found.  The 
pupil,  too,  was  loyal  to  the  last  degree. 

While  Mr.  Jenkins  was  thus  pursuing  his  law  studies  in 
Savannah,  Judge  Berrien  was  elected  to  a  seat  in  the  Sen- 
ate  of  the  United  States  and  departed  for  Washington. 
Having  completed  the  prescribed  course  of  reading,  Mr. 
Jenkins  was  called  to  the  Bar  in  Screven  county,  Georgia, 
in  April,  1826.  His  examination  was  had  before  Judge 
William  Schley.  A  month  afterwards  he  opened  a  law- 
office  in  Sandersville,  Washington  county,  where  he  con- 
tinued to  reside  and  to  practice  his  profession  until  his 
removal  to  Augusta  in  April,  1829. 

Washington  county  was  then  a  fine  agricultural  region. 
Many  wealthy  planters  there  abode.  In  association  with 
the  adjacent  territory,  Sandersville  afforded  an  excellent 
field  for  a  young  lawyer.  Improving  his  opportunities  Mr. 
Jenkins  soon  acquired  honorable  fame  at  the  bar,  and  se- 
cured a  valuable  clientage  in  his  circuit.  In  this  he  was 
materially  assisted  by  his  friend,  the  Hon.  Absalom  H. 
Chappell,  who,  having  built  up  an  extensive  practice  at  San- 
dersville, was  about  changing  his  residence  to  Forsyth.  He 
very  kindly  turned  over  to  Mr.  Jenkins  his  pending  causes 
and  unfinished  business,  and  recommended  his  clients,  when- 
ever in  need  of  legal  aid,  to  secure  the  services  of  his  young 
friend. 

State  politics,  to  use  a  common  expression,  were  then  run- 
ning high,  and  the  Troup  and  Clarke  parties  were  vigorously 
arrayed  against  each  other,  Mr.  Jenkins  allied  himself 
with  the  Troup  party  and  manifested  a  lively  interest  in 
the  issues  of  the  day. 

Much  given  to  calm  reflection,  with  a  maturity  of  judg- 
ment beyond  his  years, — a  careful  and  conscientious  stu. 
dent, — scrupulous  in  the  discharge  of  the  obligations  devolv- 
ing upon  him, — possessing  a  liberal  education  and  an  ever 


Life  and  Services  of  Hon.  C.  J.  Jenkins.  9 

present  thirst  for  knowledge, — bold  and  intelligent  in  the 
expression  of  his  convictions,  and  yet  tolerant  of  the  opin- 
ions of  others, — public  spirited,  courteous  and  affable  in 
his  intercourse, — a  ready  and  effective  speaker,  persuasive, 
logical,  and  eloquent, — and  with  a  character  pure  and  deci- 
ded in  all  the  elements  which  unite  in  the  formation  of 
true  Christian  manhood,  Mr.  Jenkins,  upon  the  threshold 
of  his  professional  and  public  life,  commanded  the  respect 
and  esteem  of  the  community  in  which  he  dwelt,  and  ex- 
hibited those  exalted  traits  which  in  after  years  remained 
unchanged,  winning  for  him  the  confidence,  the  regard,  and 
the  honor  of  his  fellow  men. 

With  a  view  to  enlarging  the  sphere  of  his  professional 
employment,  Mr.  Jenkins  removed  to  the  city  of  Augusta 
in  April,  1829,  and  there  established  his  law-office.  He 
continued,  however,  to  ride  his  old  circuit  and  retained,  in 
the  main,  the  clients  he  had  gained  during  his  residence  in 
Sandersville.  At  the  very  first  election  at  which,  under  the 
laws  of  Georgia,  he  was  entitled  to  vote,  upon  this  change 
of  county  abode,  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Legislature 
from  Richmond  county  ;  a  compliment  all  the  more  grat- 
ifying because  the  nomination  for  the  office  was  on  his  part 
wholly  unsolicited.  Mr.  Charles  Carter  was  the  opposing 
candidate. 

In  1831  he  was  elected  Attorney  General  of  the  State  of 
Georgia  and  Solicitor  of  the  Middle  Circuit.  The  discharge 
of  the  duties  appertaining  to  this  responsible  position 
brought  hi  ji  prominently  into  public  notice,  and  the  fidelity 
and  the  ability  with  which  he  met  the  obligations  incident 
to  his  station  confirmed  and  widened  the  reputation  for 
probity,  courage,  legal  acumen  and  eloquence  which  had 
already  been  so  freely  accorded. 

Before  the  expiration  of  his  term  of  office  Attorney 
General  Jenkins  resigned  and  became  a  candidate  for  the 
Legislature.  He  was  defeated.  The  following  year  he  again 
offered  for  the  same  position,  and  failed  of  an  election  at 


10        /.,>;   tmd  Services  ,,t  /!,>„.  a  J. 

the  hands  of  the  voters  of  Richmond  county.  Parties  had 
now  become  national  in  their  character,  and  the  Democrats 
were  in  the  majority.  Mr.  Jenkins  was  in  active  sympathy 
with  the  Whigs.  The  tide  turning  in  1836,  he  was  in  that 
year  elected  a  member  from  Richmond  county  of  the  Lower 
House  of  the  General  Assembly.  For  each  of  the  five 
following  years  was  he  returned  ;  but,  in  1842,  he  suffered 
defeat  on  account  of  his  connection  with,  and  support  of, 
what  was  termed  the  Algerine  Law. 

In  1S41  a  memorial,  signed  by  many  large  tax-payers  and 
influential  citizens,  was  presented  to  the  General  Assembly 
praying  the  creation  of  an  additional  Board  of  Aldermen 
for  the  city  of  Augusta  who  should  be  charged  with  the 
administration  of  the  finances  of  the  city.  Upon  all  ques- 
tions involving  the  raising  and  disbursement  of  municipal 
moneys  that  Board  was  authorized  to  exercise  a  ve'to  power. 
In  the  conduct  of  the  ordinary  affairs  of  the  city  its  mem- 
bers could  utter  no  voice  and  exercise  no  control.  They 
were  to  be  elected  by  the  owners  of  real  estate  situated 
within  the  corporate  limits  of  Augusta,  upon  whom  the 
burden  of  taxation  chiefly  devolved.  There  being  no  op- 
position^ bill  carrying  into  effect  the  prayerof  the  petition 
readily  received  legiolative  sanction.  The  Hon.  Andrew  J. 
Miller  was  then  the  Senator  from  Richmond,  and  Mr.  Jen- 
kins a  member  of  the  Lower  House. 

No  sooner,  however,  was  this  legislation  generally  known 
and  discussed  at  home,  than  there  arose  an  adverse  clamor 
which  originated  with  and  was  principally  maintained  by 
the  masses  who  practically  had  but  trifling  pecuniary  inter- 
est in  the  measure.  The  main  objection  urged  was  that  a 
restriction  had  been  placed  upon  the  freedom  of  the  ballot 
box.  A  mechanic,  by  the  name  of  Walker,  denounced  the 
act  in  emphatic  terms  and  led  the  popular  opposition  to  its 
enforcement.  It  was  he  who  gave  to  ic  the  name  of  the 
Algerine  Law,  which  really  possessed  neither  significance 
nor  relevancy,  tave  that  the  epithet  was  supposed  to  carry 


Life  and  Services  of  Hon.  C.  J.  Jenkins.         11 

with  it  a  suggestion  of  all  that  was  abhorrent,  without  war- 
rant, and  distasteful.  The  act  was  repealed  at  the  next 
eeseion  of  the  Legislature.  Believing  the  .'aw  to  be  whole- 
some in  its  provisions,  Mr.  Jenkins  refused  to  bend  before 
the  popular  will.  He  was  returned  to  the  General  Assem- 
bly in  1843,  and  was  re-elected  to  the  Lower  House  in  1845, 
in  1847,  and  again  in  1349.  The  elections  which  hitherto 
had  occurred  annually  were  now  biennial. 

In  illustration  of  the  esteem  in  which  he  was  held,  and 
as  an  t-cknowledgment  of  his  influence  in  the  legislative 
assemblies  of  the  State,  it  will  be  remembered  that  he  was 
elected  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives  in  1840, 
again  in  1843,  and  a  third  time  in  1815.  That  he  presided 
with  impartiality,  dignity,  courtesy,  and  ability,  was  uni- 
versally conceded.  It  would  not  be  an  exaggeration  to 
affirm  that  among  the  law- makers  of  Georgia  none  may  be 
named  more  conservative  in  his  view?!,  more  jealous  of  the 
public  good,  more  liberal  in  the  support  of  all  measures 
conducive  to  the  general  welfare,  or  more  uncompromising 
in  his  opposition  to  any  legislation  of  questionable  repute, 
than  the  subject  of  this  Memorial.  Instant  in  season  and 
out  of  season  in  his  cordial  advocacy  of  educational,  indus- 
trial, moral,  and  political  reforms,  the  records  of  the  period 
abound  with  the  proofs  of  his  constant  and  intelligent  de- 
votion to  the  best  interests  of  his  State  and  constituents. 

With  an  extensive  acquaintance,  surrounded  by  warm 
friends  and  admirerp,  with  a  well-earned  reputation  for  all 
that  was  honest  in  purpose,  chivalrous  in  conduct,  manly 
in  utterance,  trustworthy  in  conception,  and  attractive  in 
demeanor — clear  in  his  apprehension  of  the  right,  and 
potent  in  his  ad/ocacy  of  the  true  and  the  beautiful — he 
was  now  a  central  figure  in  the  convocations  of  the  people, 
alike  in  social  gatherings,  i.i  deliberative  assemblies,  in  occa- 
sional concourses,  and  at  the  Bar.  The  association  of  his 
name  with  the  affirmative  of  any  proposed  measure  was  an 
earnest  of  its  genuine  merit  and  an  augury  of  its  success. 


1  -          Life  and  Services  of  Hon.  C.  J.  Jenkins. 

In  1836,  when  the  construction  of  the  Western  and  At- 
lantic Railroad  was  under  discussion,  Mr.  Jenkins  was  num- 
bered among  the  warmest  supporters  of  the  bill  which  gave 
to  the  State  of  Georgia  this  valuable  internal  improve- 
ment. 

During  the  session  of  1849-'50,  the  Democratic  party 
was  in  the  majority  in  the  Legislature.  Two  bills  were  in- 
troduced, one  suggesting  changes  in  the  Congressional,  and 
the  other  modifying  the  Senatorial  Districts.  These  were 
Democratic  measures  conceived  with  a  view  to  strengthen- 
ing the  party.  As  the  time  approached  for  their  passage, 
it  so  chanced  that  many  of  the  Democratic  members  were 
absent  from  Milledgeville.  When  the  first  bill  was  up  for 
final  consideration  a  scheme  was  devised  by  some  of  the 
Whig  members  to  withdraw  from  the  House  and  thus  leave 
it  without  a  quorum.  Mr.  Jenkins  was  requested  to  par- 
ticipate in  this  movement,  inaugurated  in  the  interest  of 
his  own  party  and  supported  by  some  of  his  warmest  po- 
litical friends.  He  responded  that  in  his  judgment  guch 
action  was  revolutionary  and  unjustifiable.  He  declined  to 
countenance  the  affair,  and,  through  his  influence,  the  con- 
tern  plated  action  was  frustrated. 

When  the  Senatorial  bill  was  reached,  however,  the 
Whig  members  did  withdraw,  with  the  exception  of  Mr. 
Jenkins,  who,  adhering  to  his  convictions,  remained  in  his 
seat,  despite  the  earnest  entreaties  of  his  friends  that  he 
would  adopt  the  course  pursued  by  them.  The  withdrawal 
of  the  Whig  members  robbed  the  House  of  a  quorum  for 
the  transaction  of  business,  and  a  dead  lock  ensued  which 
was  broken  only  after  the  lapse  of  several  days  by  the  re- 
turn of  absent  Democratic  members.  During  this  time 
Mr.  Jenkins  was  the  only  Whig  member  of  the  Elouse  in 
his  seat.  We  recall  this  incident  in  illustration  of  the 
moral  heroism  and  conscientious  adherence  to  duty  dis- 
played by  him,  not  only  on  this  occasion,  but  at  other  times 
and  in  ways  even  more  emphatic.  With  him  friendships 


Life  and  Sewices  of  Hon.  C.  J.  Jenkins.         13 

were  strong  and  party  affiliations  not  without  their  admit- 
ted claims  upon  his  sympathy  ;  but,  above  and  beyond 
them  all,  he  recognized  his  obligations  to  conscience  and 
duty,  and  followed,  irrespective  of  consequences,  the  dic- 
tates of  his  calm,  unbiased,  enlightened  judgment. 

Before  the  close  of  this  session  of  the  Legislature  Mr. 
Jenkins  resigned  his  seat  and  returned  home. 

The  year  eighteen  hundred  and  fifty  was  filled  with  po- 
litical excitement  and  apprehension.  Then  were  heard  the 
mutterings  of  that  storm  which,  ten  years  afterwards, 
descended  like  night  upon  a  war-convulsed  land.  Georgia, 
in  common  with  her  sister  Southern  States,  was  greatly 
agitated  upon  the  question  of  the  acceptance  or  rejection  of 
the  pending  Compromise  measures.  A  State  Convention 
was  called  to  consider  the  emergency  and  to  suggest  a 
remedy  for  existing  grievances.  In  the  election  of  mem- 
bers of  that  Convention  Union  men  were  returned  by  a  con- 
siderable majority.  Among  that  number  was  Mr.  Jenkine, 
and  he  it  was  who  reported  the  resolution?,  adopted  by  the 
Convention,  which  have  passed  into  history  as  the  "Geor- 
gia Platform  of  1850." 

Important  as  that  document  is,  and  memorable  as  it  was 
in  its  influence  at  the  time  of  its  adoption,  we  make  no 
apology  for  reproducing  it  now  in  illustration  of  the  style 
of  composition,  thought,  and  statesmanship  of  Mr.  Jenkins 
at  an  epoch  of  unusual  political  excitement  and  peril. 

"  To  the  end  that  the  position  of  this  State  may  be  clearly 
apprehended  by  her  Confederates  of  the  South  and  of  the 
North,  and  that  she  may  be  blameless  of  all  future  conse- 
quences, 

"  Be  it  resolved  by  the  People  of  Georgia  in  Convention 
assembled, 

"  First :  That  we  hold  the  American  Union  secondary  in 
importance  only  to  the  rights  and  principles  it  was  designed 
to  perpetuate.  That  past  associations,  present  fruition,  and 


14         l.'.fe  and  Services  of  Hon.  C.  J.  Jenkins 

future  prospects  will  bind  us  to  it  so  long  as  it  continues  to 
be  the  safeguard  of  those  rights  and  principles. 

"Second :  That  if  the  Thirteen  Original  Parties  to  the 
compact,  bordering  the  Atlantic  in  a  narrow  belt  while  their 
separate  interests  were  in  embryo,  their  peculiar  tendencies 
scarcely  developed,  their  revolutionary  trials  and  triumphs 
still  green  in  memory,  found  Union  impossible  without  com- 
promise, the  Thirty-one  of  this  day  may  well  yield  somewhat, 
in  the  conflict  of  opinion  and  policy,  to  preserve  that  Union 
which  has  extended  the  sway  of  Republican  Government 
over  a  vast  wilderness  to  another  ocean,  and  proportion- 
ally advanced  their  civilization  and  national  greatness. 

"  Third  :  That  in  this  spirit  the  State  of  Georgia  has  ma- 
turely considered  the  action  of  Congress,  embracing  a  series 
of  measures  for  the  admission  of  California  into  the  Union, 
the  organization  of  Territorial  Governments  for  Utah  and 
New  Mexico,  the  establishment  of  a  boundary  between  the 
latter  and  the  State  of  Texas,  the  suppression  of  the  slave- 
trade  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  the  extradition  of 
fugitive  slave.*,  and  (connected  with  them)  the  rejection  of 
propositions  to  exclude  slavery  from  the  Mexican  Territories 
and  to  abolish  it  in  the  District  of  Columbia;  and,  whilst 
she  does  not  wholly  approve,  will  abide  by  it  as  a  perma- 
nent adjustment  of  this  sectional  controversy. 

"Four'h  :  That  the  State  of  Georgia,  in  the  judgment  of 
this  Convention,  will  and  ought  to  resist  even  (as  a  last  re- 
sort) to  a  disruption  of  every  tie  which  binds  her  to  the 
Union,  any  future  act  of  Congress  abolishing  slavery  in  the 
District  of  Columbia  without  the  consent  and  petition  of 
the  slave-holders  thereof,  or  any  Act  abolishing  slavery  in 
places,  within  the  slaveholding  States,  purchased  by  the 
United  States  for  the  erection  of  forts,  magazines,  arsenals, 
dock-yards,  navy -yards,  and  other  like  purposes;  or  any  Act 
suppressing  the  slavetrade  between  slaveholding  States  ; 
or  any  refusal  to  admit  as  a  State  any  Territory  applying, 
because  of  the  existence  of  slavery  therein  ;  or  any  Act  pro- 


Life  and  Services  of  Hon.   C.  J.  Jenkins.         15 

hibiting  the  introduction  of  slaves  into  the  Territories  of 
Utah  and  New  Mexico  ;  or  any  Act  repealing  or  materially 
modifying  the  laws  now  in  force  for  the  recovery  of  fugi- 
tive slaves. 

"Fifth  :  That  it  is  the  deliberate  opinion  of  this  Conven- 
tion that  upon  the  faithful  execution  of  the  Fugitive  Slave 
Bill  by  the  proper  authorities  depends  the  preservation  of 
our  much  loved  Union." 

The  summer  of  1851  was  passed  by  Mr.  Jenkins  at  the 
North  in  quest  of  health  and  relaxation.  While  in  Charles- 
ton, South  Carolina,  on  bis  journey  homeward,  he  was  ad- 
vised by  a  daily  paper  that  nominations  of  candidates  for 
the  Legislature  had  been  made  in  Richmond  county  aud 
that  his  name  did  not  appear  upon  the  ticket.  This  an- 
nouncement caused  no  little  surprise,  because,  prior  to  his 
departure  from  Augusta,  he  had  been  assured  that  he  would 
be  returned  to  the  House.  Arriving  at  home  he  sought  an 
early  interview  with  his  intimate  friend,  Colonel  Henry  II. 
Gumming,  who  informed  him  that  his  name  was  left  off  the 
ticket  at  the  request  of  his  friends  because  they  desired  to 
press  his  claims  upon  the  next  General  Assembly  to  a  seat 
in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States.  Judge  Berrien's  term 
of  service  was  drawing  to  a  close.  He  had  rendered  him- 
self unpopular  in  Georgia,  and  the  prospect  of  his  re  elec- 
tion seemed  more  than  doubtful.  Under  the  circumstances 
Mr.  Jenkins,  in  all  candor,  counseled  Judge  Berrien  to  re- 
tire from  the  contest ;  but,  refusing  to  bo  thus  persuaded, 
he  declared  his  intention  to  maintain  his  candidacy  to  the 
bitter  end.  This  determination  was  embarrassing  to  Mr. 
Jenkins.  For  Judge  Berrien  there  was  no  hope  of  success, 
and  such  were  the  relations  existing  between  these  gentle- 
men that  eo  long  as  he  remained  in  the  field  Mr.  Jenkins 
felt  constrained  not  only  to  withhold  the  use  of  his  name 
in  connection  with  the  office  of  United  States  Senator  from 
Georgia,  but  also  to  exert  his  active  influence  in  furthering 


16        Life  and  Services  of  Hon.  C.  J.  Jenkins. 

the  re-election  of  Senator  Berrien.     He   accordingly   went 
to  Milledgeville  upon  the  assembling  of  the  Legislature 
that  he  might  communicate  personally  with  the  members 
and  ascertain  what  could  be  accomplished  in  advancing  the 
interests  of  Judge  Berrien.     Immediately  upon  his  arrival 
he  was  waited  upon  by  the  Hon.  Edward  Y.  Hill,  and  the 
Hon.    Ilines  Holt,  both  classmates  and  warm  friends  of 
Mr.  Jenkins.     They  were  avowed  candidates  for  the  office 
of  Senator  of  the  United  States,  and  were  then  engaged  in 
pressing  their  respective  claims  upon  the  favorable  notice 
of  the  members  of  the  General  Assembly.     With  a  frank- 
new,  cordiality,  and  generosity  quite  remarkable,  they  stated 
to  Mr.  Jenkins  that  hearing  his  name  connected  with  the 
Senatorship  they  sought  the  earliest  opportunity  of  assuring 
him  that  if  he  was  a  candidate  for  that  position  they  would 
not  only  at  once  and  cheerfully  withdraw  in  his  favor,  but 
unite  in  promoting  his  success.     At  the  same  time  they  re- 
quested an   immediate  answer,  as  any  delay  would   prove 
prejudicial.     Thanking  them  for  their  great  kindness,  and 
explaining  to  them  the  situation  in  which  he  found  himself 
with  regard  to  the  candidacy  of  Judge  Berrien,  who  still 
refused  to  retire  from   the   contest,  Mr.  Jenkins  responded 
that  so  long  as  Senator  Berrien  remained  in  the  field  he 
could  not  permit  the  use  of  his  name  in  association  with  the 
office  of  Senator.      He  therefore,  under  existing  circum- 
stances, felt  constrained  to  say  to  them  he  was  not  and 
could  not  be  a  candidate  before  the  present  General  Assem- 
bly  for  the  senatorial  office.    The  Hon.  Robert  Toombs  was 
also  a  candidate,  but  it  was  intimated  and  pretty  generally 
understood  that  he  would  not  have  antagonized  Mr.  Jenkins. 
The  next  morning  came  a  letter  from  Judge  Berrien  an- 
nouncing his  withdrawal  from  the  contest.    Had  this  intelli- 
gence been  received  on  the  previous  day,  there  is  little  doubt 
but  that  arrangements  would  have  been  made  which  would 
surely  have  resulted  in  the  election  of  Mr.  Jenkins  to  a  seat 
i.3  the  Senate  of  the  United  States. 


Life  and  Services  of  Hon.  C.  J.  Jenkins.         17 

In  organizing  his  Cabinet  in  1850,  President  Fillmore 
tendered  to  Mr.  Jenkins  the  portfolio  of  Secretary  of  the 
Interior.  In  consequence,  however,  of  important  profes- 
sional engagements  (among  them  five  retainers  for  the 
accused  in  capital  cases)  he  felt  compelled  to  decline  the 
compliment. 

In  1853,  Mr.  Jenkins  was. a  candidate  for  the  gubernato- 
rial chair.  His  opponent  in  the  race  was  that  distinguished 
and  potent  Georgian,  the  Hon.  Herschel  V.  Johnson.  The 
contest,  although  sharp,  was  conducted  upon  a  dignified  and 
elevated  plane  and  resulted  in  the  election  of  Governor 
Johnson  by  a  majority  of  only  a  few  hundred.  In  this  can- 
vass the  question  of  union  or  disunion  formed  one  of  the 
issues,  and  was  freely  discussed  ;  Mr.  Jenkins  espousing  the 
tenets  and  being  the  representative  of  the  Union  Party. 

-During  the  session  of  the  convention  of  1850,  a  split  had 
occurred  in  the  Democratic  Party  in  Georgia,  and  the  Hon. 
Howell  Cobb  was,  in  1851,  elected  Governor  by  the  Union 
Party.  In  the  nominating  convention  of  that  year  Mr. 
Jenkins  was  urged  to  allow  the  use  of  his  name,  but  he  de- 
clined in  favor  of  Mr.  Cobb,  whom  he  supported  with  great 
energy  and  cordiality.  In  their  joint  canvass  of  the  State 
Governor  Johnson  was  charged  with  being  an  avowed 
secessionist  and  an  advocate  of  prompt  and  decided  action 
on  the  part  of  Georgia  and  her  sister  Southern  States,  while 
Mr.  Jenkins,  on  the  contrary,  was  recognized  as  espousing 
the  sentiments  held  by  the  Union  Party,  and  as  counseling 
moderation  and  further  delay.  His  chances  before  the 
people  were  then  somewhat  affected  and  prejudiced  by  the 
absurd  changes  which  were  rung  upon  his  connection  with 
what  was  called  the  Algerine  Law,  and  by  the  fact  that,  in 
1852,  he  had  been  named  as  a  candidate  for  Vice-President 
of  the  United  States  upon  a  ticket  led  by  Daniel  Webster. 
In  his  political  views  Mr.  Jenkins  sympathized  with  the 
Whig  Party,  and  remained  a  member  of  it  until  it  allied 
itself  with  the  Abolitionist  Party  of  the  North. 


18         /./A    <t ml  S< /-vices  of  Hon.   C.  J.  Jenklnx. 

The  next  office  to  which  Mr.  Jenkins  was  elected  was 
that  of  State  Senator  to^fill  the  vacancy  caused,  in  January, 
1856,  by  the  lamented  death  of  the  Hon.  Andrew  J.  Miller. 

In  1860,  he  was  appointed  by  Governor  Joseph  E.  Brown 
an  associate  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Georgia  in 
the  stead  of  Judge  Linton  Stephens,  resigned.  In  due 
course  the  General  Assembly  ratified  this  selection,  and  he 
remained  upon  the  Bench  of  the  Supreme  Court  during  the 
entire  period  covered  by  the  war  between  the  States.  The 
other  members  of  the  Court  were  Chief  Justice  Joseph 
Henry  Lumpkin,  and  Justice  Richard  F.  Lyon. 

In  an  eminent  degree  was  Judge  Jenkins  qualified  for 
the  discharge  of  the  duties  involved  in  the  exercise  of  this 
important  office.  The  opinions  pronounced  by  him  during 
a  term  of  rather  more  than  five  years  of  judicial  service  are 
scholarly,  erudite,  and  carefully  considered.  It  so  chanced, 
in  the  distribution  of  the  business  of  the  court,  that  it  fell 
to  his  lot  to  frame  and  deliver  the  judgment  of  that  tribunal 
upon  some  of  the  most  important  questions  springing  out 
of  the  war  and  the  abnormal  condition  of  affairs  thereby 
engendered.  In  support  of  this  assertion  we  need  only 
refer  to  the  exhaustive  and  admirable  opinions  handed 
down  by  him  in  the  cases  of  Jeffers  vs.  Fair  [33d  Georgia 
Reports,  page  347]  and  Jones  vs.  Warren  [34th  Georgia 
Reports,  page  28],  in  which  the  constitutionality  of  the  Con- 
federate Conscript  Acts  is  affirmed,  and  the  validity  of  the 
Enrolling  Acts'of  the  Confederate  Congress  is  upheld. 

President  Jefferson  Davis  stated  that  he  would  gladly 
have  offered  Judge  Jenkins  a  seat  in  his  Cabinet,  but  he 
realized  the  fact  that  he  could  not  be  spared  from  the  bench 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Georgia.  His  labors  there  were 
invaluable  to  the  Confederacy  at  crucial  epochs. 

Judge  Jenkins  always  maintained  the  right  of  secession 
from  the  Union  on  the  part  of  a  State,  for  substantial  cause, 
but  he  was  clearly  of  opinion,  when  Georgia  did  secede, 
that  no  fit  occasion  had  arisen  for  the  exercise  of  that  right. 


Life  and  Services  of  Hon.  C.  J.  Jenkins.         19 

He  believed  that  the  Southern  States,  before  withdrawing 
from  the  Confederation,  should  have  waited  for  some  overt 
act  committed  by  the  Lincoln  administration.  When, 
however,  Georgia  passed  her  ordinance  of  secession,  he  re' 
cognized  the  fact  that  his  supreme  allegiance  was  due  to 
her;  and,  during  the  long  and  pain'ul  struggle  which  en- 
sued, he  wavered  not  in  his  devotion  to  State  and  Confed- 
eracy, 

The  disastrous  close  of  the  Confederate  war  for  inde- 
pendence found  Judge  Jenkins  still  upon  the  bench  of  the 
Supreme  Court.  In  1865  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the 
convention  called  to  restore  this  Commonwealth  to  her 
Federal  relations  which  had  been  sundered  by  the  ordinance 
of  secession  and  negatived  by  a  protracted  and  bloody  ap- 
peal to  arms.  When  nominated  for  the  presidency  of  that 
convention  he  declined  the  honor,  preferring  a  place  upon 
the  floor.  As  chairman  of  the  ommittee  which  originated 
business  he  rendered  important  service  and  bore  a  leading 
part  in  the  debates.  The  proposition  to  repudiate  the  State 
debt,  contracted  during  the  progress  of  the  war,  met  with  his 
unqualified  condemnation.  That  this  should  be  done,  how- 
ever,  came  as  a  mandate  from  the  Federal  Government, 
communicated  through  the  Provisional  Governor.  An 
ordinance  annulling  that  obligation  finally  received  the 
sanction  of  the  Convention.  So  great  was  the  pressure 
from  Washington  that  it  could  not  at  the  moment  be  suc- 
cessfully resisted  ;  and  so  the  Convention  became  an  instru- 
ment in  the  hands  of  Federal  authorities  for  the  perpetra- 
tion of  this  grievous  wrong. 

While  still  a  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court,  Judge  Jen- 
kins was,  without  opposition,  elected  Governor  of  Georgia. 
It  was  a  noble  expression  of  the  confidence  of  the  Common- 
wealth  in  the  loyalty  and  worth  of  one  of  her  most  dis- 
tinguished sons— a  testimony  most  exalted  to  his  ability  to 
preside  over  public  affairs  at  an  epoch  of  uncommon  diffi- 
culty and  perplexity.  Never  was  trust  more  jiidiciousi/ 


20         Life  and  Services  of  Hon.  C.  J.  Jenkins. 

reposed.  Never  was  the  responsibility  of  high  office  more 
conscientiously  or  intelligently  recognized.  The  honorable 
James  Johnson  was  then  acting  as  Provisional  Governor, 
his  warrant  derived  from  the  Federal  authorities,  and  Geor- 
gia, as  one  of  the  States  lately  in  arms,  occupied  a  proba- 
tionary attitude.  The  question  of  her  preparedness  for 
restoration  to  full  fellowship  with  the  Northern  sisterhood 
was  to  be  answered  from  a  Federal  standpoint.  The  pos- 
ture of  affairs  was  novel.  The  situation  was  encompassed 
by  embarrassmsnts  most  serious  and  perplexities  beyond 
enumeration. 

As  the  season  approached  for  his  inauguration,  Governor 
Jenkins  was  informed  by  Provisional  Governor  Johnson 
that  he  had  been  instructed  by  the  President  to  remain  at 
his  post  and  to  communicate  from  time  to  time  to  the 
authorities  at  Washington  whatever  of  moment  should 
transpire  within  the  limits  of  the  State.  To  this  intima- 
tion Governor  Jenkins  responded  courteously  but  resolute- 
ly. Affirming  that  he  would  not  consent  to  share  the 
honor  or  the  responsiblity  of  the  office  of  Governor  of 
Georgia  with  any  one,  he  declined  to  be  inaugurated  until 
the  question  should  be  definitely  settled.  Here  is  his  manly 
letter : 

"MlLLEDGEVILLE,  12TH    DECEMBER,   1*65. 

His  Excellency,  James  Johnson,  Provisional  Governor  of 

Georgia : 

''  DEAR  SIR  :— I  have  received  your  note  of  this  morning 
conveying  to  me  the  assent  of  his  Excellency,  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States,  to  my  inauguration  as  Governor 
of  Georgia.  I  have  also  been  waited  upon  by  a  Joint 
Committee  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives, 
who  have  communicated  to  me  your  message  of  this  morn- 
ing  and  the  accompanying  telegram  from  his  Excellency, 
the  President.  In  that  his  Excellency  says :  « The  Governor 
elect  will  be  inaugurated,  which  will  not  interfere  with  you 


Life  and  Services  of  Hon.  C.  J.  Jenkins.         21 

as  Provisional  Governor.  You  will  receive  instructions  in 
a  few  days  in  regard  to  being  relieved  as  Provisional  Gov- 
ernor.' In  conclusion,  after  a  very  emphatic  approval  of 
your  official  conduct,  be  adds:  'You  will  be  sustained  by 
the  Government.' 

"Our  condition  is  anomalous,  and  there  are  no  prece- 
dents in  history  to  which  we  can  turn  for  light.  I  am  ig- 
norant of  the  extent  of  your  powers  as  Provisional  Gov- 
ernor. I  know  that  since  your  appointment  you  have  done 
many  acts  usually  performed  by  the  Governor  elected  and 
installed  under  and  by  virtue  of  the  Constitution  of  Geor- 
gia, and  have  thereby  promoted  the  convenience  and  inter- 
est of  our  people.  To  what  extent  in  contemplation  of  the 
President,  as  understood  by  you,  your  powers  will  be  cur- 
tailed by  my  inauguration  I  am  not  informed.  How  far 
the  prerogatives  exercised  by  you  since  the  organization  of 
the  General  Assembly  will  be  abandoned,  I  am  ignorant. 
Should  I  be  inaugurated  to-morrow,  and  should  you  receive 
no  further  communication  from  the  President  within  a 
month,  it  is  evident  that  during  that  time  there  will  be  two 
Governors  of  Georgia.  It  may  be  that  as  Provisional 
Governor  of  Georgia  you  have  duties  to  discharge  which  do 
not  come  within  the  purview  of  any  constitutional  duties. 

"You,  Sir,  are  a  Georgian,  and  knowing  the  powers  that 
will  be  conferred  and  the  duties  that  will  be  devolved  upon 
me,  when  inaugurated,  by  the  constitution  and  laws  of  the 
State,  I  most  respectfully  inquire  whether  those  then  re- 
maining to  yon  will  lie  to  any  extent  within  those  limits  ? 
If  you  reply  affirmatively,  it  is  manifest  that  there  wfTTbe 
danger  of  conflict,  which  I  most  earnestly  desire  to  avoid. 
I  would  then  prefer  that  my  inauguration  should  be  post- 
poned until  it  be  the  pleasure  of  the  President  to  relieve 
you.  If  you  answer  negatively,  I  shall  indulge  no  prurient 
curiosity  as  to  your  position,  and  will  ask  to  be  installed. 

"I  beg  to  asst  re  you,  sir,  that  I  stand  upon  no  point  of 
ceremony,  indulge  no  jealous  suspicions  of  probable  inter- 


•J-J         Life  and  &/r/o  *  of  lion.   C.  J. 

ference.  I  simply  desire  a  better  understanding  of  a  novel 
situation;  and  fully  appreciating  the  kindness  that  induced 
his  Excellency,  the  President,  to  yield  his  assent  to  my 
inauguration,  propose  to  adopt  the  course  which  will  most 
surely  avoid  all  conflict. 

"With  many  thanks  for  the  courtesy  and  kindness  you 
have  extended  in  official  intercourse  with  me,  I  am  very 
respectfully  your  obedient  servant, 

CHARLES  J.  JENKINS." 

Some  delay  occurred.  It  was  finally  determined,  how- 
ever, by  the  General  Government  to  interpose  no  obstacle 
to  the  inauguration  of  Governor  Jenkins,  and  Governor 
Johnson  was  instructed,  upon  his  induction  into  office,  to 
turn  over  to  the  Chief  Executive  of  the  people  all  public 
papers  and  property  appertaining  lo  the  State,  and  to  retire 
from  his  position  as  Provisional  Gcvernor.  Pending  the 
settlement  of  this  question  the  intercourse  between  the 
Governor  elect  and  the  Provisional  Governor  was  charac- 
terized by  the  utmost  courtesy,  and  all  conflict  of  authority 
was  wisely  and  happily  avoided. 

The  General  Assembly,  which  had  protracted  its  session 
to  compass  the  inauguration  of  Governor  Jenkins,  ad- 
journed almost  immediately  after  the  solemnization  of  this 
important  event. 

The  Convention  of  1865  had  authorized  the  issue  of  bonds 
to  the  amount  of  five  hundred  thousand  dollars  to  meet  the 
pressing  wants  of  the  State.  These  had  been  negotiated 
with  different  banks  and  the  sums  thence  realized  had  been 
wholly  expended.  The  treasury  was  empty.  No  taxes  had 
been  collected  for  the  current  year,  and  the  machinery  of 
the  Commonwealth  was  sadly  out  of  joint.  The  restoration 
of  Georgia  to  good  order,  repose,  and  prosperity  rested 
largely  upon  the  shoulders  of  the  Executive,  and  Governor 
Jenkins  applied  himself  to  the  task  with  a  loyalty,  zeal,  and 
ability  worthy  of  all  admiration. 


Life  and  Services  of  Hon.  C.  J.  Jenkins.         23 

Immense  were  the  losses  sustained  by  the  State  daring 
the  Confederate  Revolution.  The  graves  of  her  sons  hal- 
lowed every  battle-field  where  brave  men  had  followed  the 
Eed  Cross  to  the  death.  Her  slaves  had  been  emancipated. 
Her  railways  had  been  mutilated  and  well  nigh  annihilated. 
Her  plantat:ons  had  been  sacked,  and  penury  and  ashes 
were  everywhere.  Of  domestic  animals  and  agricultural 
implements  the  supply  was  most  meagre.  Labor  was  de- 
moralized and  the  chariots  of  war,  which  had  so  ruthlessly 
swept  over  the  land,  had  left  in  their  track  only  ruin  and 
desolation.  The  past  was  disappointment.  The  present 
was  confused  by  the  wreck  of  institutions  overturned,  by 
the  uncertainties  of  the  new  order  of  affairs,  and  by  appre- 
hensions of  continued  disaster.  The  future  was  enshrouded 
in  commingled  gloom,  doubt,  and  mistrust.  Painful  was 
the  period  and  abnormal  were  the  circumstances.  To  re- 
create the  State,  to  avoid  further  complications  with  the 
Federal  Government,  to  heal  the  wounds  engendered  by 
the  civil  strife,  to  recall  peace  and  comfort  and  prosperity, 
and  so  to  govern  that  whatever  of  hope  and  happiness  and 
welfare  remained  might  be  husbanded  and  augmented  in 
the  interest  of  the  eorely  smitten  Commonwealth,  de- 
manded the  highest  exertions  of  the  statesman,  the  patriot, 
and  the  philanthropist. 

The  address  delivered  by  Governor  Jenkins  upon  taking 
the  oath  of  office  will  long  be  remembered  and  treasured  as 
an  utterance  most  sage  and  elevated. 

"  In  the  recent  remodeling  of  their  constitution,"  said  he,/ 
"  the  people  of  Georgia  have  acknowledged  the  Constitu- 
tion, Laws,  and  Treaties  of  the  United  States  as  the  supreme 
law.  This  means  something  more  than  yielding  of  the 
contest  or  an  overture  for  restoration.  It  implies  fidelity 
to  the  supreme  law  in  all  future  legislative,  executive,  and 
judicial  action,  and  in  all  future  movements  of  the  people 
€/i  masse.  It  implies  a  recognition  of  duty  to  and  interest 
in  the  whole  country,  as  well  a?  to  and  in  the  State  of 


-  \         Life  and  Services  of  Hon.  C.  J.  Jenkins. 

Georgia.     It  is  of  course  predicated  upon  a  reciprocal  obli- 
gation on  the  part  of  those  to  whom  this  pledge  is  renewed. 

"  The  institution  of  slavery — the  principal  source  of  dis- 
cord in  the  past — has  been  effectually  eradicated  from  our 
social  and  political  systems.  It  can  never  again  disturb  the 
harmony  of  our  national  deliberations  without  which  the 
Federal  Union  must  be  a  curse  instead  of  a  blessing.  If 
the  whole  people,  repressing  all  promptings  of  sectional 
feelings  and  interest,  will  faithfully  observe  and  obey  the 
Federal  Constitution,  coming  events  will  lift  the  veil  which 
now  covers  recent  demonstrations  of  Providence,  and  dis- 
close to  their  rectified  vision,  in  striking  contrast,  ruin 
caused  by  human  folly  and  renovation  wrought  by  Divine 
wisdom. 

"  Let  not  our  people  yield  to  discouragement  in  view  of 
the  tardy  progress  of  reconstruction  or  of  the  suspicion  and 
distrust  EO  palpably  manifested  towards  them.  Sustained 
by  conscious  rectitude,  let  them  maintain  with  calm  and 
resolute  dignity  the  position  they  have  taken,  and  await  the 
result.  A  tempest  of  unsurpassed  fury  has  swept  over  the 
land.  The  elements  do  not  subside  into  their  normal  quiet 
instantaneously  with  the  lull  of  the  wind,  the  sleep  of  the 
lightning,  and  the  hush  of  the  thunder.  The  smoke  of  an 
hundred  battles  does  not  vanish  in  a  moment.  But  the 
atmosphere  will  clear  ere  long.  Those  who  cannot  now 
see  how  men  who  recently  fought  with  such  desperation 
against  the  United  States  can  so  soon  become  its  real  citi- 
zens, will  then  look  at  us  through  a  rectified  medium.  It 
will  occur  to  them  that  valor  and  truth  are  twin  sisters, 
born  of  magnanimity,  whose  womb  never  did  nor  never 
will  conceive  treachery.  They  will  then  remember  and 
appreciate  the  historical  fact  that  the  States  now  returning- 
never  confederated  against  the  United  States  until  each  for 
herself  had,  in  open  day  and  in  the  hearing  of  all  mankind, 
declared  herself  separate  from  that  power.  And  although 
they  will  still  hold  the  act  wrong  in  principle  and  void  in. 


Life  and  Services  of  Hon.   C.  J.  Jenkins.         25 

fact,  they  will  find  in  it  no  taint  of  duplicity.  They  will 
look  in  vain  through  all  the  sanguinary  traces  of  war  for 
the  trail  of  the  serpent.  In  due  time  consistency  will  com 
mand  confidence ;  and  sincerity,  like  the  diamond  of  the 
first  water,  will  assuredly  win  its  own  recognition.  Then 
our  too  suspicious  judges  will  marvel  less  at  our  approved 
fealty  than  at  their  own  tardiness  in  discerning  it. 

"  Be  the  process  of  reconstruction  long  or  short,  when  con- 
summated, our  attitude  will  and  must  be  that  of  strict 
fidelity  to  the  Union,  of  equality  with  our  associates,  and 
of  dignity  sustained  by  our  inner  sense  of  unviolated  in- 
tegrity." 

Referring  to  the  status  of  the  freedman,  the  Governor 
continued:  "It  is  undoubtedly  true  that  during  all  the 
years  of  his  enslavement  he  has  been  marvelously  kind? 
profoundly  content  with  his  condition.  And  what  shall  be 
said  of  his  deportment  during  the  last  half  decade  of  sad 
memories?  While  you  strong  men  were  in  the  tented 
field,  far  away  from  unprotected  wives  and  children,  he 
cultivated  their  lands,  tended  their  households,  and  re  - 
dered  all  servile  observances  as  when  surrounded  by  the 
usual  controlling  agencies.  And  since  the  fiat  of  emanci- 
pation, which  he  neither  forced  nor  implored,  although 
sometimes  unsettled  in  his  purpose,  and  inconstant  in  his 
service  by  contract,  (the  natural  results  of  a  transition  so 
sudden  and  so  thorough),  I  take  you  all  to  witness  that  in 
the  main  his  conduct  has  been  praiseworthy  beyond  all 
rational  expectation.  Tell  me  not  of  instances  of  insub- 
ordination as  a  slave,  and  of  indecorum  as  a  freedman,  that 
have  transpired  in  certain  localities  or  characterized  partic- 
ular individuals.  These  are  exceptional  cases,  the  general 
rule  being  quit  j  otherwise.  Do  our  own  race  render  unva- 
rying obedience  to  the  mandates  of  the  law  ?  Are  our  own 
offspring  through  the  years  of  minority  always  subordinate 
to  parental  authority?  Shall  then  the  less  cultivated  Afri- 
can be  held  to  a  stricter  accountability  or  be  judged  by  a 


26         Life  and  Service*  <;f  ]/,*,».  C.  J.  Jenkins. 

higher  standard  of  moral  rectitude?  Tell  me  not  the  race 
is  ungrateful.  The  assertion  13  against  the  troth  of  tradi- 
tion and  experience.  1  here  declare  that,  in  my  judgment, 
their  fidelity  in  the  past,  and  their  decorum  under  the  dis- 
tressing influences  of  the  present  are  without  a  parallel  in 
history,  and  establish  for  them  a  claim  upon  our  favoring 
patronage.  As  the  governing  class,  individually  and  col- 
lectively we  owe  them  unbounded  kindness,  thorough  pro- 
tection, incentives  by  moral  suasion,  by  appeals  to  their 
interest,  and  by  just  legal  restraint,  to  do  right  that  they 
may  do  well.  Their  rights  of  person  and  property  should 
be  made  perfectly  secure— so  secure  that  they  may  realize 
their  freedom  and  its  benefits— and  of  it  they  should  be 
encouraged  and  stimulated  to  make  benefit.  To  this  end 
the  courts  must  be  opened  to  them,  and  they  must  be  al- 
lowed, in  the  assertion  and  defense  therein  of  their  rights 
in  civil  and  criminal  cases,  the  testimony  of  their  own  race. 
As  essential  to  their  well  being,  they  should  be  guarded  on 
the  one  hand  against  the  crafty  machinations  of  the  design- 
ing, and  on  the  other,  against  the  fatal  delusion  of  social 
and  political  equality. 

"  God  is  merciful.  God  is  mighty.  God  in  his  abounding 
mercy  and  in  the  plenitude  of  his  might  so  dispose  our 
fortunes  and  theirs  that  each  class  shall  be  to  the  other  a 
blessing  and  not  a  curse." 

We  give  one  more  extract  from  this  noble  utterance  : 

"Peace  restored — the  machinery  of  government  once 
more  put  in  operation — public  and  private  enterprises 
aroused  from  their  long  slumber — educational  institutions 
re-opened — our  sacred  temples  a.:d  our  altars  with  their 
holy  ministrations  frequented  as  of  yore,  and  the  blessing 
of  Almighty  God  overspreading  and  vivifying  all  earnest 
effort,  Georgia  will  illustrate  the  teachings  of  adversity  by 
speedily  achieving  an  enlarged  prosperity." 

After  a  month's  recess  the  Legislature  reassembled.  An 
appropriation  of  $'200,000  was  made  to  purchase  corn  for 


Life  and  Services  of  Hon.  C.  J.  Jcukin*.         27 

the  poor  of  the  State.  A  stay-law  was  enacted  which  Gov- 
ernor Jenkins  vetoed  on  the  ground  that  it  impaired  the 
obligation  of  contracts.  Acting  upon  the  suggestion  con- 
tained in  this  inaugural  address,  the  General  Assembly 
passed  an  act  empowering  persons  of  color  to  make  and 
enforce  contracts,  to  sue  and  be  sued,  to  give  testimony  in 
the  State  courts,  to  inherit,  purchase,  lease,  sell,  hold  and 
convey  property  both  real  and  personal,  and  to  enjoy  the 
full  and  equal  benefit  of  all  laws  and  proceedings  requisite 
and  customary  for  the  security  of  person  and  e?tate.  This 
legislation  exerted  a  beneficial  influence.  It  evoked  from 
the  General,  commanding  the  Department  in  which  Georgia 
was  included,  an  order  securing  to  the  State  a  partial  resto- 
ration of  her  civil  rights  and  conceding  jurisdiction  to  her 
courts. 

So  complicated  was  this  military  machinery  conceived 
and  operated  for  the  government  of  the  States  lately  associ- 
ated in  the  Confederate  Revolution — so  numerous  were  the 
interferences  experienced  at  the  hands  of  the  Freedman's 
Bureau — so  annoying  was  the  intervention  of  military  com- 
missions and  treasury  agents,  nominally  in  quest  of  captured 
and  abandoned  property,  but  really,  in  many  instances, 
intent  upon  plunder — and  PO  oppressive  the  menace  of  mar- 
tial law,  that  Governor  Jenkins  took  occasion  by  public 
proclamation  to  advise  the  citizens  of  Georgia  of  the  pre- 
cise status  of  affairs,  that  they  might,  in  seasons  of  doubt, 
annoyance,  and  distress,  be  the  batter  able  to  govern  them- 
selves promptly  and  intelligently. 

Within  five  years  almost  four-fifths  of  the  entire  wealth 
of  Georgia  had  been  either  destroyed  or  rendered  unpro- 
ductive. Under  the  wise  counsels  and  energetic  measures 
suggested  by  the  Governor  and  sanctioned  by  the  General 
Assembly,  much  was  accomplished  in  repairing  the  ravages 
of  war  and  in  the  restoration  of  law,  order,  and  prosperity. 

After  a  short  session,  during  which  the  attention  of  the 
members  was  chiefly  directed  to  the  consideration  of  local 


^8         Life  and  Services  of  Hon.  C.  J.  Jenkins. 

matters,  the  Legislature  adjourned  to  reassemble  on  the  first 
of  November,  1866. 

It  was  proposed  by  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  to 
add  a  Fourteenth  Article  to  the  Constitution.  Analyzing 
the  features  of  the  suggested  amendment,  Governor  Jen- 
kin*,  in  his  message  to  the  General  Assembly,  said  : 

"  I  ask  you  to  consider,  however,  why  it  is  that  you  are 
called  upon  to  vote  upon  its  adoption  whilst  your  State  had 
no  voice  in  its  preparation  ?  The  Constitution  secures  to 
the  States  the  one  right  as  distinctly  and  as  positively  as 
the  other.  Had  your  representatives  and  those  of  other 
States  similarly  situated  been  present,  aiding  in  giving  sub- 
stance and  form  to  it,  possibly  it  might  have  come  before 
yon  a  less  odious  thing.  The  policy  seems  to  have  been 
first  to  push  it,  without  their  participation,  beyond  the  stage 
of  amendment,  and  then  say  to  them  accept  our  bantling 
or  take  the  consequences.  The  omission  of  any  material 
part  of  the  process  of  amendment  makes  the  amendment 
itself  unconstitutional,  null,  and  void. 

"  Should  the  States  especially  to  be  affected  by  this  amend- 
ment refuse  their  assent  to  it,  it  cannot  be  adopted  without 
excluding  them  from  the  count  and  placing  its  ratification 
upon  the  votes  of  three-fourths  of  the  now  dominant  States. 

"  It  is  said,  however,  that  unless  this  concession  be  made, 
the  now  excluded  States  will  be  kept  out  of  the  halls  of 
Congress  indefinitely.  Were  the  amendment  presented 
with  such  a  menace  distinctly  expressed,  a  higher  motive 
(if  possible)  than  any  hitherto  suggested  would  prompt  its 
rejection. 

"  At  the  termination  of  hostilities  it  was  right  and  proper 
that  the  previously  resisting  States  should,  in  the  most 
unequivocal  and  formal  manner,  abandon  such  resistance  ; 
should  rescind  all  they  had  done  in  antagonism  to,  and  do 
whatever  was  necessary  and  proper  to  place  themselves  in 
constitutional  relation  with,  that  government.  All  this,  we 
believe,  Georgia  has  done.  Beyond  this,  in  acting  upon 


Life  and  Services  of  Hon.  C.  J.  Jenkins.        29 

any  proposed  change  in  the  fundamental  law,  even  in  this 
critical  juncture,  my  advice  is  that  her  legislators  act  with 
the  same  intelligent  judgment  and  the  same  unflinching 
firmness  that  they  would  have  exercised  in  the  past  or  would 
exercise  in  the  future  when  in  full  connection  and  unam- 
biguous position.  Any  other  rule  of  action  may  involve 
sacrifices  of  interest  and  of  principle  which  magnanimity 
would  not  exact,  and  self-respect  could  not  make.'' 

Moved  by  his  brave  counsels  and  sage  views,  the  General 
Assembly,  after  careful  deliberation,  declined  to  ratify  the 
proposed  amendment. 

During  the  entire  period  of  his  gubernatorial  career 
Governor  Jenkins  was  harassed  and  embarrassed  by  the 
reconstruction  measures  of  Congress,  by  the  arrogance  and 
annoying  interference  of  the  Military  Commander  assigned 
to  the  almost  autocratic  control  of  the  department  embrac- 
ing the  States  of  Georgia,  Alabama,  and  Florida,  and  by  the 
constant  and  pronounced  intervention  by  the  Federal 
authorities  in  matters  which  appertained  legitimately  to  the 
province  of  home  rule  and  the  ordering  of  them  by  the 
duly  elected  officers  of  the  State.  Opposed  upon  principle 
to  the  Congressional  plan  of  reconstruction,  arid  persuaded 
that  both  the  laws  promulgated  and  the  acts  perpetrated 
under  cover  of  them  were  oppressive  and  unconstitutional, 
Governor  Jenkins,  on  the  10th  of  April,  1867,  filed,  in 
behalf  of  tho  State  of  Georgia,  an  original  bill  in  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  praying  relief  by  a 
temporary  injunction  restraining  all  proceedings  under  the 
Reconstruction  Acts  until  the  final  adjudication  of  the  case, 
and  then  asking  a  perpetual  injunction  against  their  enforce- 
ment in  the  event  that  they  should  be  shown  to  be  null 
and  void  as  violating  the  fundamental  law. 

The  scheme  of  this  bill  originated  exclusively  with  the 
Governor.  In  its  elaboration  and  attempted  enforcement 
he  enlisted  the  sympathies  and  secured  the  professional 
services  of  eminent  couneel  led  by  the  Hon.  Jeremiah  S. 


30         /./A    ,tnit  s<  i-fJcea  of  Hon.   C.  J.  Jenkins. 

Black  and  Mr.  Charles  O'Conor.  Upon  the  hearing  the 
court  was  of  opinion  that  inasmuch  a8  there  had  been  no 
encroachment  upon  or  violation  of  any  property  right  of 
the  State  of  Georgia,  no  jurisdiction  attached  ;  conse- 
quently the  bill  was  dismissed. 

Subsequently  however,  when,  under  the  operation  of  the 
Reconstruction  measures,  Governor  Jenkins  was  removed 
by  order  of  General  Meade,  and  the  usurping  Military 
Governor,  General  Ruger,  took  possession  of  the  State 
treasury,  the  public  buildings,  and  the  Western  and  Atlan- 
tic Railroad,  Governor  Jenkins  filed  a  second  bill  in  behalf 
of  the  State,  bringing  the  complainant  directly  within  the 
purview  of  the  decision  rendered  by  the  Supreme  Court 
upon  the  dismissal  of  the  first  bill. 

The  petitioner  was  met,  however,  by  so  many  unexpected, 
and  in  most  instances  provoking  obstacles  at  the  hands  of 
the  Court,  that  before  this  second  bill  could  be  heard  upon 
its  merits  the  Bulloch  Legislature  came  into  power  and 
ordered  its  discontinuance. 

The  truth  is,  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  in 
both  cases  avoided  a  frank  and  fair  consideration  of  the 
issue  presented :  and  postponed,  by  every  conceivable 
device,  a  decision  of  the  questions  raised  by  each  bill. 

It  was  truly  mortifying  and  pitiable  to  behold  the  shifts 
to  which  that  august  tribunal  resorted.  In  more  than  one 
instance  the  partisan  was  enveloped  in  the  ermine  of  the 
judge. 

While  in  Washington  in  attendance  upon  the  Supreme 
Court  and  engaged  in  an  earnest  effort  to  evoke  protection 
for  his  oppressed  Georgia,  Governor  Jenkins  took  occasion 
to  publish  an  address  to  the  people  of  the  State,  in  which 
he  counseled  non-action  under  the  military  laws  until  the 
question  of  their  legality  could  be  decided. 

Upon  his  return  home  he  was  served  with  a  communica- 
tion from  Major  General  John  Pope,  the  military  eatrap, 
calling  his  attention  to  the  general  order  issued  by  him 


Life  and  Services  of  Hon.   C.  J.  Jenkins.         31 

when  he  assumed  command  of  the  District,  informing  him 
that  State  officers  must  confine  themselves  strictly  to  the 
performance  of  their  official  duties,  and  "refrain  from 
using  any  influence  whatever  to  deter  or  dissuade  the  people 
from  taking  an  active  part  in  reconstructing  their  State 
Governments  under  the  act  of  Congress  to  provide  for  the 
more  efficient  government  of  the  Rebel  States,  and  the 
act  supplementary  thereto,"  and  requesting  to  be  ad- 
vised whether  Governor  Jenkins,  when  he  issued  his 
address  to  the  people  of  Georgia,  dated  Washington,  D.  C., 
April  10th,  1867,  had  seen  or  acquired  knowledge  of  the 
General  Order  alluded  to. 

In  his  response,  while  admitting  that  he  had  not,  at  the 
time  his  address  to  the  people  of  Georgia  was  prepared  and 
published,  seen  the  order  referred  to,  the  Governor  uses  this 
dignified  and  courageous  language :  "  1  supposed  I  was  ex- 
ercising such  freedom  in  the  public  expression  of  opinion 
relative  to  public  matters  as  seems  still  to  be  accorded  to 
the  citizens  of  this  Republic,  not  imagining  that  it  was 
abridged  by  the  accident  of  the  speaker  or  writer  holding 
office. 

"  So  much  for  the  past,  General,  and  I  will  only  add  that 
in  future  I  will  do  and  say  what  I  believe  is  required  of 
me  by  the  duty  to  which  my  oath  of  office  binds  me ;  and 
this,  1  trust,  will  not  involve  either  conflict  or  controversy 
between  us  in  the  execution  of  our  respective  trusts ;  as  I 
think  it  need  not.  Everything  of  this  character  I  certainly 
desire  to  avoid." 

The  conduct  of  General  Pope  each  day  became  more  an- 
noying, aggressive,  and  arbitrary.  He  intervened  without 
sufficient  cause  in  the  ordinary  details  of  the  civil  adminis- 
tration of  the  State.  The  Governor  elected  by  the  free 
votes  of  citizens  he  styled  provisional,  and  constantly  al- 
luded to  his  tenure  of  office  as  a  mere  matter  of  his  military 
and  overruling  pleasure.  He  interfered,  even  to  the  extent 
of  removing  the  incumbents  from  office,  with  the  functions 


32         Life  and  Services  of  Hon.  C.  J.  Jenkins. 

of  civil  officers.  Odious  and  unequal  did  he  render  the 
operation  of  the  Registration  Laws.  He  attempted  to 
throttle  the  public  press ;  and,  by  published  order,  essayed 
to  con  pel  an  expression  of  opinion  alien  to  the  sentiments 
of  the  community.  He  even  endeavored  to  influence  the 
mind  of  Judges ;  and,  from  his  military  throne,  sought  to 
play  the  role  of  a  dictator. 

In  fine,  he  rendered  himself  so  pronounced  and  obnoxious 
in  his  zealous  and  partisan  enforcement  of  the  Reconstruc- 
tion measures  of  a  Radical  Congress,  that  his  rule  became 
intolerable  to  the  peoples  over  whom  he  domineered,  and 
objectionable  to  the  better  mind  of  the  Federal  Adminis- 
tration. Governor  Jenkins,  looking  to  the  welfare  and  the 
peace  of  the  State,  had  long  sought  his  removal.  On  sev- 
eral occasions  he  had  urged  such  a  step  upon  the  attention 
of  the  President.  To  his  praise  be  it  spoken,  President 
Johnson,  while  admitting  the  advisability  of  the  suggested 
action,  freely  confessed  his  doubt  whether,  in  the  present 
temper  of  the  country  and  its  prominent  officers,  a  more 
tolerable  military  ruler  for  the  Department  could  be  found. 
He  did  yield,  however,  in  the  end,  and  substituted  Major 
General  George  G.  Meade  in  the  stead  of  the  doughty  war- 
rior who,  belloflagrante,  boastfully  located  his  headquarters 
in  the  saddle,  and  asserted  that  he  had  never  looked  except 
upon  the  backs  of  his  retreating  enemies.  It  may  not  be 
questioned  that  in  this  whole  matter  of  reconstruction  Pres- 
ident Johnson  sympathized  with  the  Southern  States  in 
their  agony,  and  did  what  he  could  to  lighten  the  miseries 
and  the  burdens  of  their  grievous  situation. 

It  will  never  be  doubted  that  Governor  Jenkins  during 
his  entire  term  of  officj  exhibited  on  all  occasions  a  Roman 
virtue — a  solicitude  for  the  welfare  of  the  State — an  energy 
and  persistency  in  advocating,  in  the  face  of  the  greatest 
difficulties,  such  measures  as,  in  his  wise  and  patriotic  judg- 
ment, were  most  expedient  for  the  public  good — an  honesty 
of  purpose, — a  fidelity,  and  a  moral  heroism  than  which 


Life  and  Services  <yf  Hon.  C.  J.  Jenkins.         33 

nothing  higher,  nobler,  or  purer  could  have  been  mani- 
fested. Spotless  in  character,  blameless  in  life,  faithful 
in  adversity,  loyal  to  the  traditions  and  the  honor  of  his 
people,  he  lives  in  the  respect,  the  gratitude,  and  the  affec- 
tion of  us  all.  In  the  annals  of  this  State  he  will  stand  eide 
by  side  with  the  high-strung,  the  patriotic,  and  the  invinci- 
ble George  M.  Troup. 

One  of  the  earliest  difficulties  encountered  by  Governor 
Jenkins  in  administering  the  crippled  finances  of  the  State 
arose  in  the  effort  to  provide  for  the  payment  of  a  debt 
which  had  been  contracted  with  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment during  the  administration  of  Provisional  Governor 
James  Johnson.     Upon  the  conclusion  of  the  Confederate 
war  the  Western  and  Atlantic  Railroad — the  property  of 
the  State — was  in  a  deplorable  condition.     Bereft,  to  a  large 
extent,  of  rolling  stock,  it  was  incapable  of  furnishing  needed 
transportation.      The  State  treasury  was  bankrupt.     Just 
then  the  United  States  Government  offered  for  sale  a  large 
amount  of  rolling  stock  concentrated  in  Tennessee.     Gov- 
ernor Johnson  sent  an  agent  thither  who  effected  a  purchase 
in  behalf  of  Georgia,  and  upon  a  credit  of  two  years,  of  some 
four  hundred  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  cars  and  railway 
supplies. 

Shortly  after  Governor  Jenkins'  inauguration  a  demand 
was  made  upon  the  State  of  Georgia,  by  the  Federal  officer 
specially  charged  with  the  sale  of  this  railway  property,  for 
the  immediate  payment  of  one  twenty-fourth  part  of  the 
purchase  moneys,  and  interest  on  the  balance.  Similar 
payment  was  to  be  exacted  each  month  until  the  entire  debt 
should  be  discharged.  An  alternative  proposition  was  sub- 
mitted  on  the  part  of  the  creditor.  Should  bond  and 
security  be  given,  the  purchaser  might  enjoy  a  credit  of  two 
years  from  date  of  purchase. 

The  treasury  of  Georgia,  as  we  have  seen,  was  then  in  an 
empty  condition,  and  time  was  requisite  for  the  collection 
of  taxes.  Governor  Jenkins  was  under  the  impression  that 


34          /  ife  and  Services  of  I/on.  0.  J.  Jenkins. 

the  original  contract  of  purchase  extended  to  the  State  of 
Georgia  a  credit  of  two  years  upon  the  purchase,  and  that 
im  security,  beyond  the  faith  of  the  State,  had  been  either 
contemplated  or  asked. 

Under  the  pressure  of  the  demand  he  communicated  with 
Mr.  Stanton,  the  Secretary  of  War,  who  curtly  responded 
that  if  the  Agent  of  the  Government  was  peeking  to  exact 
anything  outside  the  terms  of  the  contract,  he  would  inter- 
vene ;  but  if,  on  the  contrary,  he  was  simply  adopting 
measures  for  the  enforcement  of  the  contract,  he  could  do 
nothing  in  the  premises. 

Governor  Jenkins  thereupon  wrote  to  General  George 
H.  Thomas,  who  was  then  in  command  of  Tennessee  where 
the  purchase  had  been  made,  stating  to  him  what  he  under- 
stood the  contract  of  purchase  to  be,  as  gathered  from  rep- 
re-entations  made  by  the  Agent  of  the  Provisional  Governor 
of  Georgia  who  had  been  charged  with  the  negotiation,  and 
inquiring,  if  the  General  Assembly  of  Georgia  should 
authorize  the  Governor  of  the  State  to  execute  a  bond  in 
behalf  of  the  Commonwealth  conditioned  for  the  payment 
of  the  purchase  money  at  the  expiration  of  two  years  from 
the  date  of  the  contract,  whether  such  an  arrangement  would 
be  satisfactory  to  the  Federal  authorities. 

General  Thomas  responded  in  the  affirmative.  The  Gen- 
eral Assembly  being  in  session,  Governor  Jenkins  laid  the 
matter  before  it  and  an  act  was  quickly  passed  empowering 
the  Governor  to  execute  and  deliver  the  bond.  A  certified 
copy  of  the  Act,  and  the  bond  in  proper  form,  were  duly 
forwarded  to  General  Thomas,  and  Governor  Jenkins  sup- 
posed that  the  affair  was  accommodated. 

Soon,  however,  there  camj  a  demand  for  the  payment  of 
another  twenty-fourth  part  of  the  indebtedness,  and 
interest  to  date  on  the  balance.  Surprised,  Governor 
Jenkins  lost  no  time  in  communicating  with  General 
Thomas,  who  replied  that  he  regarded  the  bond  simply 
as  a  formal  acknowledgment  on  the  part  of  the  State 


Life  and  Services  of  Hon.  C.  J.  Jenkins.         35 

of  the   exi.-ting  debt,    and  that   inasmuch  as  no   security 
had  been  given  for  its  payment,  collection  must  be  enforced 
in  equal  monthly  payments  until  the  obligation  was  dis- 
charged.    Having  occasion  to  visit  the  North  upon  a  mat- 
ter connected  with  the  finances  of  the  State,  Governor  Jen- 
kins stopped  in  Washington  and   had  a  personal  interview 
with  Secretary  Stanton.     We  received  from  the  Governor's 
lips  the  following  narrative  of  what  then  transpired  :  "Af- 
ter I  had  made  my  statement,  to  which  the  Secretary  lis- 
tened attentively,  Mr.  Stanton  said  he  could  recognize  no 
distinction  between  a  State  and  a  private  individual  in  the 
matter  of  the  purchase,  and  affirmed  that  he  could  do  noth- 
ing for  the  relief  of  Georgia.     I  responded :    Well,  Mr. 
Secretary,  with  your  permission,  I  take  issue  with  you  right 
here.     When  I  was  a  law  student  I  was  taught  that  there 
existed  a  courtesy  between  governments  or  nations,  and  that 
credits  between  them  stood  upon  a  footing  different  from 
that  applicable  to  the  transactions  arising   between  private 
individuals.     He  had  made  no  suggestion  that  Georgia  was 
not  a  State.     After  arguing  the  point  at  some  length,  I  said. 
'Mr.  Secretary,  I  did  not  think  I  should  live  to  see  the  day 
when  the  Government  of  the  United  States  would  propose 
to  send  the  Governor  of  one  of  the  States  out  into  the  com- 
munity to  seek  for  personal  security  to  a  money  contract  of 
the  commonwealth.     I  cannot  so  far  lower  the  dignity  of 
Georgia.'     While  I  was  speaking,   Mr.  Stanton  sat  gazing 
into  the  fire-place.   As  I  made  the  remark  he  turned  quickly 
upon  me,  and,  looking  me  full  in  the  eye,  said  :  'Governor, 
will  you  be  good  enough  to   present  in  writing  the  views 
you  have  just  expressed  in  regard  to  the  courtesy  due  to  a 
State  under  the  circumstances  of  this  case,  and  send  them 
tome?     I  will  consider  them.'     I  replied :    'I  will  do  so 
with  pleasure,  Mr.  Secretary.'     I  did  commit  my  views  to 
paper,  and  I  sent  them  to  him  the  same  day.     When  next 
I  called  upon  him  he  remarked  :  '  Governor,  the  views  you 
have  submitted  grow  upon  me,  I  must  confess,  the  more  I 


36        Life  and  Services  of  Hon.  C.  J.  Jenkins. 

consider  them,  but  I  cannot  take  the  responsibility  of  acting 
without  first  consulting  the  1* resident.  Indeed,  I  think  I 
shall  bring  the  question  before  the  Cabinet  at  its  next  meet- 
ing. Call  at  such  a  time  [naming  it]  and  I  will  confer 
further  with  you.'  I  waited  upon  him  at  the  time 
designated,  and  he  informed  me  that  he  had  submitted 
the  subject  to  the  consideration  of  the  Cabinet,  and  that  it 
had  been  referred  to  the  Attorney  General  (Mr.  Stanbery) 
and  himself,  with  power  to  act.  '  Do  you  know  Mr.  Stan- 
bery ?'  he  inquired.  '  I  am  not  personally  acquainted  with 
him,'  I  replied.  *  Then  walk  with  me  to  his  office,'  re- 
joined Mr.  Stanton,  'and  I  will  introduce  you  to  him  and 
leave  you  with  him  to  present  the  question  fully,  and  I  will 
see  you  afterwards.'  We  went  to  the  office  of  the  Attorney 
General,  and  there  Mr.  Slanton  left  me.  While  explaining 
the  case  to  Mr.  Stanbery,  when  I  mentioned  the  fact  that 
this  was  a  purchase  from  the  United  States  by  an  agent  of 
the  State  of  Georgia,  and  thai  the  present  question  was 
whether  the  United  States  Government  should  exact  secu- 
rity from  the  State  for  the  payment  of  the  purchase  moneys 
agreed  upon,  he  interrupted  me  with  the  remark :  '  Gov- 
ernor, do  you  know  that  the  proposition  revolts  me  ?'  I 
responded  :  '  1  am  very  glad  to  hear  you  say  so,  Mr.  Attor- 
ney General.  That  was  its  effect  upon  me,  and  I  gave  the 
Secretary  of  War  so  to  understand.'  'Oh,'  said  he,  'that  will 
never  do.  Stanton  must  give  that  up.  He  shall  give  it 
up.'  '  Well,'  said  I,  '  Mr.  Stanbery,  I  need  not  trouble 
you  any  further.  I  am  happy  to  find  your  views  so  entirely 
in  accord  with  my  own.'  In  my  next  interview  with  the 
Secretary  of  War  he  did  give  it  up.  He  ordered  the  terms 
of  the  bond,  as  delivered,  to  be  observed,  and  entirely 
waived  the  demand  for  security." 

Matters  remained  in  statu  quo  until  the  fall  of  1867, 
when  the  bond  matured.  Governor  Jenkins  had,  by  pre- 
liminary negotiations,  accumulated  funds  sufficient  for  its 
payment.  Georgia  held,  however,  a  claim  against  the  Gen- 


Life  and  Services  of  Hon.  C.  J.  Jenkins.        37 

eral  Government  for  its  use  of  certain  rolling-stock  owned 
by  the  Western  and  Atlantic  Railroad,  and  for  the  transpor- 
tation of  soldiers  and  supplies  over  that  road.  Major  Camp- 
bell Wallace,  the  Superintendent,  was  engaged  in  preparing 
the  proofs  requisite  for  the  support  of  that  claim  which  the 
Governor  desired,  in  all  fairness,  to  utilize  in  part  payment 
of  the  amount  due  upon  the  bond.  Mr.  Stanton  had  mean- 
while been  displaced,  and  General  Grant  was  then  acting  as 
Secretary  of  War.  Governor  Jenkins  advised  General 
Thomas  that  he  was  prepared  to  liquidate  the  indebtedness 
arising  under  the  bond,  but  suggested  that  the  payment  of 
a  part  of  it  (equal  in  amount  to  Georgia's  probable  claim) 
should  be  postponed.  The  General  responded  that  while  he 
could  not  pass  upon  the  proposition,  he  would  refer  the 
matter  to  the  Secretary  of  War.  He  further  agreed,  if  the 
State  would  pay  up  the  balance,  to  recommend  that  a  sum 
sufficient  to  answer  the  counter-claim  should  be  reserved, 
subject  to  future  adjudication. 

At  this  stage  of  the  affair  Governor  Jenkins  visited  Wash- 
ington and  submitted  the  facts  to  General  Grant,  who,  after 
considering  them,  replied :  "  If  General  Thomas  recom- 
mends the  adoption  of  this  course,  and  you  will  pay  up  the 
excess,  I  will  instruct  him  to  let  the  balance  lie  over." 
Upon  this  basis  was  a  settlement  effected.  The  sum  nomi- 
nated in  the  bond,  over  and  beyond  Georgia's  claim,  was  at 
once  paid  and  an  amount  was  reserved  which  was  regarded 
as  the  equivalent  of  that  counter-claim.  It  was  understood 
that  the  Governor,  if  so  required,  should  at  any  time,  upon 
a  month's  notice,  pay  over  tire  balance.  This  accommoda- 
tion occurred  in  October,  1867,  and  nothing  further  was 
said  about  it  until  a  few  days  before  the  removal  of  Gov- 
ernor Jenkins,  when  he  received  a  communication  from 
General  Grant's  Secretary  stating  that  if  his  object  in  seek- 
ing indulgence  on  a  part  of  the  debt  as  nominated  in  the 
bond  was  to  gain  time  so  as  to  enable  him  to  make  up  a 
claim  in  favor  of  Georgia  against  the  United  States,  it  was 


38         Life  and  Services  of  Hon.   C.  J.  Jenkins. 

wholly  inadmissible,  and  Georgia  must  forthwith  pay  np 
the  balance. 

Anticipating  some  such  complication,  Governor  Jenkins 
had  instructed  Major  Campbell  Wallace  to  retain  in  hand 
funds  sufficient  to  discharge  the  balance  of  the  debt  irre- 
spective of  Georgia's  claim.  Upon  receipt,  therefore,  of 
this  communication  from  the  Secretary  of  War,  he  tele- 
graphed Major  Wallace  to  end  the  matter  by  paying  the 
balance  due  according  to  the  letter  of  the  bond,  and  this 
was  immediately  done. 

In  1866  an  attempt  was  made  on  the  part  of  the  United 
States  Government  to  levy  and  collect  a  tax  upon  the 
Western  and  Atlantic  Railroad,  which  was  the  exclusive 
property  of  the  State  of  Georgia. 

The  Collector  of  Revenues  for  the  Atlanta  District  noti- 
fied Major  Wallace,  the  Superintendent  of  the  State  Road, 
that  he  must  at  once  pay  a  tax  of  two  and  a  half  per  cent, 
upon  the  gross  earnings  of  the  road  for  the  preceding  year, 
and  thereafter  submit  monthly  returns.  Persuaded  that 
the  proposed  tax  was  utterly  without  warrant  of  law,  Gov- 
ernor Jenkins  immediately  communicated  with  Mr.  Mc- 
Culloch,  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  and  protested 
against  the  proceeding.  In  due  course  he  was  advised  by 
that  official  that  he  had  referred  the  question  to  the  Solic- 
itor of  the  Treasury  and  that  upon  the  incoming  of  his  re- 
port he  would  respond  definitely.  Subsequently  he  did 
reply  to  the  effect  that  the  Solicitor  yf  the  Treasury  was  of 
opinion  that  the  road  was  liable  to  taxation,  and  conse- 
quently, that  the  Department  could  afford  Georgia  no 
relief  in  the  premises.  Confident  that  this  decision  was 
erroneous,  Governor  Jenkins  caused  a  bill  to  be  filed  in 
the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  asking  relief,  and 
praying  an  injunction  against  the  United  States  Internal 
Revenue  Collector.  The  bill  was  exhibited  to  Judge 
Erskine,  who,  after  some  hesitation,  granted  an  order  to 
show  cause  why  the  injunction  should  not  be  allowed. 


Life  and  Services  of  Hon.  C.  J.  Jenkins.         39 

Argument  was  had  upon  the  return  of  the  Kule,  and  the 
Court  reserved  its  decision.  It  was  distinctly  understood, 
however,  that  no  further  action  should  be  taken  by  the 
Collector  pending  the  rendition  of  the  judgment. 

Judge  Erskine  departed  for  a  vacation  at  the  North  and, 
after  some  time,  Major  Wallace  was  notified  by  the  Collec- 
tor that  unless  the  tax  was  paid  within  ten  days  he  would 
issue  an  execution,  levy  it  upon  the  rolling  stock  of  the 
Western  and  Atlantic  Railroad,  and  in  this  summary  man- 
ner enforce  payment.  Informed  of  this  unexpected  and 
unjustifiable  procedure,  Governor  Jenkins  directed  Major 
Wallace  to  pay  the  tax  under  protest.  This  was  done. 

As  this  demand  would  be  renewed  each  month,  and  as  it 
was  very  important  that  a  stop  should  be  put  to  the  exac- 
tion,  Governor  Jenkins  proceeded  to  Washington,  and, 
after  an  interview  with  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  in- 
duced him  to  send  instructions  to  the  Collector  staying 
further  aclion  until  the  rendition  of  a  decision  by  the  Dis- 
trict Judge.  Secretary  McCulloch  declined,  however,  to 
refund  the  amount  of  the  tax  which  had  been  paid  under 
protest.  This  amounted  to  some  twenty  thousand  dollars. 
Upon  his  return  to  Georgia  Judge  Erskine  did  grant  an  in- 
junction  pendents  lite.  In  due  course,  the  defendant  not 
appearing,  the  injunction  was  made  perpetual  and  a  decree 
was  entered  ordering  the  tax  alrec'idy  paid  to  be  refunded. 
Even  after  this  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  refused  to 
return  the  amount  collected  until  he  had  invoked  and  re- 
ceived the  opinion  of  the  Attorney  General  sustaining  the 
decision  of  Judge  Erskine.  When  the  sum  was  finally  re- 
funded, no  interest  was  allowed  on  the  part  of  the  Govern- 
ment, although  more  than  a  year  had  elapsed  since  the  date 
of  its  illegal  receipt. 

During  Governor  Jenkins'  administration  gubernatorial 
intervention  \vas  not  infrequently  invoked  to  settle  disputes 
in  connection  with  the  Freedman's  Bureau — in  regard  to 
branded  horses  found  upon  the  premises  of  planters — and 


40         Life  and  Services  of  Hon.  C.  J.  Jenkins. 

respecting  what  was  claimed  by  Treasury  Agents  to  be 
either  Confederate  cotton  or  captured  and  abandoned  prop- 
erty. In  all  instances  the  Governor  patiently  and  manfully 
rendered  every  available  assistance.  He  also  labored  faith 
fully  and  successfully  in  restoring  the  credit  of  the  State  to 
a  sound  financial 'basis.  It  was  during  his  administration 
that  the  Western  and  Atlantic  Railroad  was  mortgaged  to 
support  a  line  of  bonds  issued  by  the  State.  When  first 
placed  upon  the  market,  through  the  personal  exertions  of 
the  Governor  they  were  made  to  bring  ninety  cents  in  the 
dollar.  Their  value  being  thus  admitted,  he  refused  to  sell 
many  of  them  at  that  figure,  and  advanced  the  price  to 
ninety  five  cents.  Shortly  afterwards  they  were  eagerly 
sought  after  and  regarded  as  a  safe  and  desirable  security. 
Georgia's  credit  had  been  wisely  re-established. 

The  Congressional  Reconstruction  Convention  of  Geor 
gia  assembled  in  Atlanta  on  the  9th  of  December,  1867,  and 
remained  in  session  until  the  23d  of  the  month.  It  met 
again  on  the  8th  of  the  following  January.  General  George 
G.  Meade,  newly  arrived,  had  supplanted  General  Pope  in 
the  command  of  the  Military  Department.  The  members 
of  this  Convention,  after  a  rather  protracted  absence  from 
home,  found  themselves,  in  many  instances,  with  empty 
pockets.  They  grew  hungry  and  clamored  for  pay. 
Having  appointed  Dr.  Angier  their  financial  agent,  they 
passed  a  resolution  requiring  the  State  Treasurer  to  turn 
over  to  him,  from  the  State's  moneys,  forty  thousand  dol- 
lars for  the  use  and  support  of  the  Convention.  Armed 
with  a  copy  of  that  resolution,  signed  by  the  President  of 
the  Convention,  certified  by  its  Secretary,  and  indorsed  by 
General  Pope  who  had  not  then  been  removed,  Dr.  Angier 
repaiied  to  Milledgeville  and,  exhibiting  it  to  Mr.  John 
Jones,  the  Treasurer  of  the  State,  demanded  payment  of 
the  amount  named.  Mr.  Jones  d  -dined  to  accede  to  the 
request  un'ess  it  was  fortified  by  an  Executive  warrant. 
Dr.  Angier  remained  but  a  few  hours  in  Milledgeville  and 


Life  and  Services  of  Hon.  (7.  J.  Jenkins.         41 

then  returned  to  Atlanta  without  applying  to  the  Governor 
for  an  Executive  warrant.  The  Convention  soon  took  a 
recess  for  the  Christmas  holidays,  and  its  members  returned 
home  having  received  no  pay  for  their  services.  Meanwhile 
the  efforts  made  by  Governor  Jenkins  and  others  to  secure 
the  removal  of  General  Pope  eventuated  in  success,  and 
General  Meade  was  appointed  by  President  Johnson  in  his 
place.  And  now,  in  presenting  the  facts  connected  with 
the  removal  of  Governor  Jenkins  from  his  gubernatorial 
office,  we  record  the  circumstances  as  they  were  narrated  to 
us  by  him.  It  was  our  privilege  to  have  conversed  fre- 
quently and  unreservedly  with  him  on  this  interesting  topic, 
and  in  regard  to  other  incidents  in  his  noble  life.  We  re- 
call his  precise  language. 

"  It  had  been  intimated  to  me,"  said  he,  "  that  General 
Meade  was  a  Democrat,  and  that  he  was  frank  and  manly 
in  character.  I  therefore,  in  person,  paid  my  respects  to 
him  soon  after  he  reached  Atlanta  to  assume  command  of 
the  Department.  The  Reverend  Dr.  Brantley,  who  was 
personally  acquainted  with  him,  accompanied  me  and  intro- 
duced me  to  him.  The  General  received  me  courteously, 
thanked  me  for  this  early  visit,  and  eaid  he  had  proposed 
calling  upon  me  as  soon  as  he  had  become  fairly  domiciled 
in  his  new  quarters.  During  the  course  of  our  conversa- 
tion he  introduced  the  subject  of  Dr.  Angier's  recent  visit 
to  Milledgeville,  and  inquired  whether  he  had  called  upon 
me  at  that  time  ?  I  replied  that  he  had  not  done  so.  Well, 
he  rejoined,  that  was  a  mistake.  It  was  a  blunder  on  Pope's 
part.  Angier  should  have  been  instructed  to  have  waited 
upon  you  for  an  Executive  warrant. 

"  But,  continued  he  inquiringly,  I  do  not  know,  Gover- 
nor, whether  or  not  that  would  have  caused  any  difference 
in  the  result !  Not  the  least,  General,  I  answered.  What, 
Governor,  said  he,  do  you  mean  to  say  you  would  not  have 
responded  to  an  order  for  an  Executive  warrant?  Certainly, 
not,  General,  I  replied.  Well,  said  he,  I  am.  very  sorry  to 


42         Life  and  Services  of  Hon.  C.  J.  Jenkins. 

hear  yon  eay  so.  Will  you  be  kind  enough  to  give  me  the 
reasons  which  would  have  influenced  you  in  refusing?  Yes, 
General,  I  answered,  I  will  do  so  very  cheerfully  and  very 
briefly.  When  I  was  inaugurated  as  the  Governor  of 
Georgia  I  took  an  oath  to  support  and  defend  the  constitu- 
tion of  the  State.  That  constitution  provides  that  no 
money  shall  be  drawn  from  the  Treasury  except  by  Execu- 
ive  warrant  upon  appropriation  made  by  law.  That 
means  of  course,  as  you  will  concede,  General,  appropria- 
tion authorized  by  some  law  of  the  State  of  Georgia.  Yes, 
certainly,  he  responded.  I  continued  :  The  Legislature  of 
Georgia  had  made  no  appropriation  which  authorized  me  to 
issue  an  Executive  warrant  in  the  case  presented.  Had  I 
then  drawn  such  a  warrant  upon  the  State  Treasurer  I  would 
have  violated  my  oath  of  office.  Of  this  there  can  be  no  ques- 
tion. Upon  this  ground  alone,  had  there  been  no  other,  I 
would  have  taken  my  stand.  But  there  is  another  view 
which,  it  appears  tome,  should  exert  a  controlling  influence. 
The  Congress  of  the  United  States,  in  inaugurating  this 
policy  which  is  without  precedent,  and  in  putting  this 
anomalous  machinery  in  operation,  foresaw  the  trouble 
which  has  come  upon  this  Convention.  While  Congress 
did  not  provide  funds  for  the  support  of  the  Convention, 
by  the  act  which  called  the  Convention  into  being  it  author- 
ized that  body  to  levy  a  tax  to  defray  its  own  expenses. 
This  clearly  shows  that  the  Congress  of  the  United  States 
did  not  contemplate  empowering  either  the  Convention  or 
the  military  commander  to  draw  funds  from  the  treasury 
of  Georgia  for  that  purpose.  After  hesitating  a  little 
General  Meade  replied :  Governor,  if  you  and  I,  as  citizens, 
were  discussing  this  subject,  there  would  perhaps  arise  no 
special  difference  of  opinion  between  us,  but  you  must  con- 
eider  my  position.  I  am  sent  here  to  carry  out  in  Georgia 
these  reconstruction  measures.  This  Convention  is  an  in- 
dispensable instrumentality  in  the  accomplishment  of  that 
end,  and,  while  in  attendance  upon  it,  its  members  must  be 


Life  and  Services  of  Hon.   C.  J.  Jenkins.        43 

fed  and  supported.  I  have  no  money  for  them.  They 
have  endeavored  to  borrow  money  but  they  cannot  secure 
a  dollar.  They  have  no  credit.  Just  here  I  interrupted 
him  with  the  remark:  I  am  not  at  all  surprised  a.t  it,  Gen- 
eral. Well,  said  he,  it  is  so.  They  cannot  borrow  any 
money  and,  as  to  levying  a  tax,  that  is  altogether  too  slow 
a  business*.  That  will  not  answer,  and  unless  you  furnish 
the  money  from  the  treasury  of  the  State  the  whole  thing 
will  come  to  a  dead  lock.  My  answer  was  :  In  truth,  Gen- 
eral, I  do  not  see  that  either  you  or  I  would  be  to  blame  for 
that.  The  conclusion  will  be  that  Congress  has  set  the 
machinery  in  motion  and  has  provided  no  oil  with  which 
to  grease  the  wheels. 

"  After  a  pause  General  Meade  said :  Governor,  I  came 
here  with  a  most  earnest  desire  to  move  on  harmoniously 
and  not  to  interfere  with  your  functions.  General,  I  in- 
terposed, such  is  my  hope,  and  I  think  I  have  evinced  it  by 
this  early  call  upon  you.  Yes,  he  replied,  and  I  have 
thanked  you  for  your  courtesy,  but  this  is  a  terrible  diffi- 
culty which  is  interposed  upon  the  occasion  of  our  first  in- 
terview. I  most  earnestly  request  you  to  reconsider  the 
matter,  for  I  must  say  to  you,  in  all  candor,  that  if  you  per- 
sist in  this  determination  I  see  no  alternative  left  me  but  to 
remove  you  from  office.  This  I  would  be  very  reluctant  to 
do.  I  replied  :  I  will  not  be  so  discourteous,  General,  as  to 
say  to  you  that  I  will  not  reconsider,  but  I  have  maturely 
reflected  upon  this  matter,  having,  after  the  answer  given 
by  the  State  Treasurer  to  the  Financial  Agent  of  the  Con  • 
vention,  anticipated  that  a  call,  such  as  that  which  you  now 
suggest,  would  be  made  upon  me.  I  cannot  see  how  any 
reconsideration  could  lead  me  to  a  different  conclusion  with 
regard  to  my  manifest  duty  in  the  premises.  At  any  rate, 
he  responded,  I  will  give  you  time  to  reflect.  Here  our  in- 
terview ended. 

"  Prior  to  this  conference  I  passed  and  published  an  Execu- 
tive order  suspending  the  collection  of  taxes.  I  also  in- 


44        Life  and  Services  of  Hon.  C.  J.  Jenkins. 

structed  the  State  Treasurer  to  remove  the  funds  of  the 
State  to  some  secure  depository,  and  to  keep  his  own 
counsels. 

"  Several  days  elapsed  and  I  heard  nothing  from  the  mili- 
tary commander. 

"  On  the  7th  of  January  1868,  General  Meade  addressed  a 
communication  to  me  enclosing  a  copy  of  the  ordinance 
passed  by  the  Convention,  referring  to  the  refusal  of  the 
State  Treasurer  to  pay  over  the  sum  named  to  the  Financial 
Agent  of  the  Convention,  and  concluding  with  a  demand 
upon  me  for  an  Executive  warrant  on  the  State  Treasurer 
for  the  payment  of  the  amount  specified.  I  responded,  in 
due  course,  declining  to  give  the  warrant ;  and,  in  my  reply, 
briefly  recapitulated  the  reasons,  previously  explained  to 
him  in  person,  which  influenced  me  in  refusing  to  comply 
with  his  demand.  The  receipt  of  my  letter  was  quickly 
followed  by  this  communication  from  General  Meade : 

'  HEADQUARTERS  THIRD  MILITARY  DIVISION, 

(Georgia,  Alabama,  and  Florida). 
ATLANTA,  GA.,  January  13,  1868. 

Charles  J.  Jenkins,  Milledgeville,  Ga. : 

SIR — I  have  received  with  profound  regret  your  communi- 
cation of  the  10th  inst.  in  which  you  decline  to  accede  to 
the  request  made  in  mine  of  the  7th  instant.  As  I  cannot 
but  consider  your  action  as  a  failure  to  co-operate  with  me 
in  executing  the  laws  known  as  the  Reconstruction  Laws  of 
Congress,  and  as  I  am  further  advised  you  have  declined 
to  pay  the  salary  of  M.  S.  Bigby,  Solicitor-General  of  the 
Tallapoosa  Circuit,  on  the  ground  that  said  officer  having 
been  appointed  by  the  military  commander  of  the  Third 
District  you  cannot  recognize  the  validity  of  his  appoint- 
ment, I  am  forced,  most  reluctantly,  to  view  your  actions 
as  obstructions  to  the  execution  of  the  Reconstruction  Laws, 
and  have  no  alternative  but  to  remove  you  from  your  office, 


Life  and  Services  of  Hon.  C.  J.  Jenkins.         45 

as  you  will  see  I  have  done  by  the  enclosed  order.  I  do 
not  deem  myeelf  called  upon  to  answer  the  arguments  of 
your  letter.  The  issue  is  very  plain  between  us.  I  must 
require  the  acknowledgment  of  the  validity  of  the  Recon- 
struction Laws,  and  you  plainly  deny  them  as  having  any 
binding  force  on  your  actions.  Both  of  us  are  acting  from 
a  conscientious  sense  of  duty,  but  the  issue  is  so  plain  and 
direct  that  all  hope  of  harmonious  co-operation  must  be 
abandoned. 

With  feelings  of  high  personal  respect,  and  with  sincere 
regret  for  the  course  I  feel  myself  compelled  to  take,  I  re-  • 
main, 

Most  respectfully  your  obedient  servant, 

GEORGE  G.  MEADE, 
Major  General  Commanding.' 

"  Shortly  after  my  receipt  of  this  communication  by  post, 
General  Thomas  H.  Ruger  presented  himself  to  me  at 
Milledgeville  and  stated  he  supposed  I  was  aware  of  the 
object  of  his  visit.  '  Yes,'  I  replied, «  I  have  received  a  com- 
munication from  General  Meade  informing  me  that  he  had 
removed  me  from  office  and  appointed  you,  as  Provisional 
Governor  of  Georgia,  in  my  place,  and  I  presume  you  have 
come  to  assume  the  duties  of  the  office.'  '  That,'  he  re- 
sponded, 'is  my  business  here,  and  I  hope,  Governor,  you 
will  offer  no  resistance.'  •  Before  answering  you,'  I  replied, 
'permit  me  to  ask  you  a  question.  Are  you  instructed,  if 
necessary,  to  use  force  to  dispossess  me  of  this  office  ?'  He 
responded,  '  I  am,  sir,  and  I  will  show  you  my  orders,'  which 
he  proceeded  to  do.  « Well,  sir,'  I  rejoined,  'you  have  the 
army  of  the  United  States  at  your  back,  and  I  can  summon 
not  even  a  respectable  police  force.  I  therefore  elect  to 
bow  out  to  you,  rather  than  to  a  file  of  soldiers  with  mus- 
kets and  bayonets,  but  1  denounce  this  proceeding  as  an 
outrage  upon  the  rights  of  the  State ;  and,  had  I  adequate 
force,  I  would  resist  you  to  the  last  extremity.'  After 


46         Life  aitd  N<  /  rices  of  Hon.  C.  J-  Jenkins. 

eome  further  conversation  General  Rugor  remarked:  'I 
see,  Governor,  you  have  promulgated  an  executive  order 
suspending,  for  the  present,  the  collection  of  taxes.  Will 
you  be  good  enough  to  give  me  your  reasons  for  so  doing  ?' 
I  answered  :  '  Sir,  you  probably  remember  that  the  Conven- 
tion, now  in  session  in  Atlanta,  passed  a  resolution  request- 
ing me  to  do  juet  that  thing,  but  I  scorn  to  rest  that  official 
act  upon  any  such  authority  ;  and,  while  I  disclaim  any  in- 
tended, discourtesy  to  you,  I  must  decline  rendering  you 
any  account  of  my  official  acts.'  Here  our  interview  ter- 
minated.'' 

This  call  was  made  upon  the  Governor  at  the  Executive 
mansion  in  Milledgeville,  where  he  was  confined  to  the 
house,  being  at  the  time  very  lame  from  the  effects  of  a 
severe  fall  encountered  at  Washington,  D.  C.,  and  barely 
able  to  move  about  with  the  aid  of  crutches.  From  the 
executive  mansion  General  Ruger  proceeded  to  the  office 
of  the  Slate  Treasurer  where,  to  his  dismay  and  manifest 
displeasure,  he  found  only  an  empty  vault  and  a  lot  of  old 
books.  The  Treasurer  refused  to  inform  him  where  the 
funds  of  the  State  were  deposited,  or  to  surrender  the  cur- 
rent books  appertaining  to  his  conduct  of  the  public  finances. 
His  interview  with  Treasurer  Jones  ended  by  his  ordering 
him  under  arrest.  General  Ruger  at  once  revoked  the  ex- 
isting order  suspending  the  collection  of  taxes,  and  directed 
the  Superintendent  of  the  Western  and  Atlantic  Railroad 
to  pay  over  its  earnings  to  his  newly  appointed  Treasurer. 

He  courteously  placed  the  executive  mansion  at  the  dis- 
posal of  Governor  Jenkins,  but  the  Governor  remained 
threre  only  a  few  days  to  arrange  his  affairs,  and  then  de- 
parted for  his  home  in  Augusta.  The  night  before  he  left 
Milledgeville  the  citizens,  in  torch-light  procession,  waited 
upon  him  to  testify  their  respect,  love,  and  admiration,  and 
to  proclaim  their  detestation  of  the  military  usurpation 
which  had  forcibly  deprived  the  State  of  Georgia  of  her 
chosen  and  honored  chief  magistrate.  Governor  Jenkins 


Life  and  Services  of  Hon.  C.  J.  Jenkins.         47 

responded  in  a  farewell  address  replete  with  dignity,  emo- 
tion, affection,  and  eloquence. 

It  was  a  mournful  occasion  for  Georgia.  In  this  arbitrary 
act  of  the  Federal  commander  all  her  good  citizens  realized 
the  hopeless,  impotent  condition  in  which  the  common 
wealth  had  been  plunged.  They  comprehended  and  la- 
mented the  fact  that  the  guardian  of  the  rights,  the  proper- 
ty, and  the  manhood  of  the  State  had  been  taken  from 
them.  The  future  they  could  contemplate  only  with  fear 
and  apprehension.  Abnormal  as  were  the  circumstances 
and  perplexing  the  difficulties  which  surrounded  his  admin- 
istration of  the  affairs  of  State,  they  were  persuaded  that 
while  Governor  Jenkins  remained  in  office  nothing  would  be 
omitted  which  could  conduce  to  the  general  welfare. 
Hence,  even  in  the  midst  of  abounding  penury  and  uncer- 
tainty, there  existed  reasonable  expectation  of  security  in 
the  present  and  of  returning  prosperity  in  the  near  future. 
The  mailed  hand  of  the  conqueror  struck  down  the  trusted 
guide  and  counselor,  the  chosen  friend  and  beloved  magis- 
trate, and  substituted  in  his  stead  an  instrument  alien  and 
unsympathetic,  an  emotionless  locum  tenens  whose  imposed 
duty  it  was  to  execute  a  scheme  of  reconstruction  devised 
by  a  Republican  Congress,  inaugurated  without  judgment 
or  the  sanction  of  law,  and  enforced  in  opposition  to  the 
will  of  a  coerced  and  protesting  population. 

Before  quitting  the  Executive  mansion  where,  for  some 
time,  because  of  his  lameness,  Governor  Jenkins  had  trans- 
acted the  business  of  the  State,  he  instructed  one  of  his 
secretaries  to  detach  the  seal  of  the  Executive  Department. 
This  he  placed  in  the  hands  of  a  trusted  friend,  with 
injunctions  of  secrecy,  and  the  request  that  it  be  preserved 
until  snch  time  as  he  should  call  for  it.  He  also  removed 
the  Executive  documents  appertaining  to  his  term  of  ser- 
vice as  Governor.  These  and  the  seal,  as  well  as  the  State's 
moneys,  were  safely  kept  and  never  passed  into  the  posses- 
sion of  the  military  usurper.  Full  and  just  account  of  the 


48        Life  and  Sewices  of  Hon.  C.  J.  Jenkins. 

public  funds  was  rendered  when  Georgia  was  in  condition 
to  administer  her  own  affairs,  and  the  executive  seal  and 
books  were,  by  Governor  Jenkins,  returned  and  surrendered 
to  Governor  Smith  with  a  complete,  manly,  and  patriotic 
statement  of  the  reasons  which  influenced  him  in  guarding 
them  and  the  public  treasure  from  the  alien  touch  of  the 
stranger  and  the  plunderer. 

It  has  been  worthily  said  that  there  is  no  document  in  the 
archives  of  Georgia  which  surpasses  in  lofty  sentiment  and 
noble  dignity  the  letter  of  Governor  Jenkins  accompanying 
the  return  of  the  seal  of  the  Executive  Department.  It  con- 
cludes thus:  "  The  removal  of  the  books  and  papers  was 
simply  a  cautionary  measure  for  my  own  protection.  Not 
so  with  the  seal.  That  was  a  symbol  of  the  Executive 
authority,  and  although  devoid  of  intrinsic,  material  value, 
was  hallowed  by  a  sentiment  which  forbade  its  surrender  to 
unauthorized  hands.  Afterwards,  whilst  I  was  in  Wash- 
ington vainly  seeking  the  interposition  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  a  formal  written  demand  was  made  upon  me  by 
General  Ruger  for  a  return  of  these  articles,  with  which  I 
declined  to  comply. 

"  The  books  and  papers  1  herewith  transmit  to  your 
Excellency  that  they  may  resume  their  places  among  the 
archives  of  the  State.  With  them  I  also  deliver  to  you  the 
seal  of  the  Executive  Department.  I  derive  high  satisfac- 
tion from  the  reflection  that  it  has  never  been  desecrated 
by  the  grasp  of  a  military  usurper's  hand,  never  been  pros- 
tituted to  authenticate  official  misdeeds  of  an  upstart 
pretender.  Unpolluted  as  it  came  to  me,  I  gladly  place  it 
in  the  hands  of  a  worthy  son  of  Georgia,  her  freely  chosen 
Executive,  my  first  legitimate  successor." 

In  acknowledgment  of  his  noble  conduct  during  this 
trying  period,  in  recognition  of  the  distinguished  services 
he  had  rendered  the  Commonwealth,  and  in  token  of  the 
profound  gratitude,  love,  and  honor  of  the  people  of  Geor- 
gia, the  following  Preamble  and  Resolutions,  framed  and 


Life  and  Services  of  Hon.  C.  J.  Jenkins.         49 

introduced  by  the  honorable  Joseph  B.  Gumming,  of  Rich- 
mond County,  were  enthusiastically  adopted  by  the  General 
Assembly : 

"  WHEREAS,  The  Honorable  Charles  J.  Jenkins,  when 
expelled  by  usurpers  from  the  office  of  Governor  of  this 
State,  had  the  firmness  and  the  courage  to  save  the  public 
treasure  from  the  plunderers,  and  applied  it  to  the  obliga- 
tions of  the  State,  and  also  removed  the  archives  of  the 
State  Treasury,  and  saved  from  desecration  the  Seal  of  the 
Executive  Department; 

"  And  Whereas,  his  efforts  to  save  the  people  of  Georgia 
from  oppression  relaxed  not  with  his  hold  upon  the  Execu- 
tive office,  but  in  the  midst  of  discouragement  were  con- 
tinued before  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  so 
long  as  there  was  any  hope  of  success  ; 

"  And  Whereas,  preserving  the  archives  and  the  seal  until, 
in  better  times,  he  might  restore  them  to  his  first  rightful 
successor,  he  has  delivered  them  to  his  Excellency  the 
Governor ; 

"  And  Whereas,  gratitude  to  a  great  and  good  man,  defer- 
ence to  the  feelings  of  the  people  of  Georgia,  and  the 
encouragement  of  patriotism  and  virtue  in  the  generations 
to  come  alike  render  it  good  that  we  should  make  and  put 
in  imperishable  form  a  recognition  of  his  fidelity  to  his 
trust ; 

"  Therefore  be  it  Resolved  by  the  General  Assembly  of 
the  State  of  Georgia :  That  his  Excellency,  the  Governor, 
be  authorized  and  instructed  to  have  prepared,  and  in  the 
name  of  the  people  of  Georgia  to  present  to  the  Honorable 
Charles  J.  Jenkins,  a  seal  to  be  the  fac  simile  of  the  one 
preserved  and  restored  by  him,  except  that  in  addition  to 
the  other  devices  it  shall  have  this  inscription  :  PRESENTED 
TO  CHARLES  J.  JENKINS  BY  THE  STATE  OF  GEORGIA  ;  and 
this  legend  :  IN  ARDUIS  FIDELIS.'' 

In  due  season,  a  fac  simile  of  the  seal  of  the  Executive 
Department — wrought  of  gold  and  of  excellent  workman- 
4 


50         Life  and  Services  of  Hon.  C.  J.  Jenkins. 

ship,  bearing  the  prescribed  inscription  and  legend,  and 
accompanied  by  a  properly  authenticated  copy  of  the  pre- 
amble and  resolutions  of  the  General  Assembly — was,  in 
the  name  of  Georgia,  presented  to  Governor  Jenkins  ;  a 
memento  worthy  alike  of  a  grateful  and  happy  Common- 
wealth, after  much  tribulation,  restored  to  the  protection 
and  guidance  of  her  own  sons,  and  of  the  fidelity  and  Spar- 
tan virtue  of  him  who,  with  a  fortitude,  sagacity,  and 
dignity  never  excelled,  maintained  inviolate  his  high  trust, 
and  preserved  the  honor  of  his  people  amid  circumstances 
without  parallel,  and  in  the  face  of  difficulties  the  most 
perplexing. 
Nineteen  centuries  ago  did  Flaccus  sing  of  the 

"  JuBtum  et  tenacem  propositi  virum, 
Non  civium  ardor  prava  jubentium, 
Non  vultus  instantis  tyranni, 
Mente  quatit  solida :" 

and  the  dignified  conduct  of  Governor  Jenkins  on  this 
epochal  occasion,  and  the  moral  heroism  and  tenacity  of 
exalted  purpose  displayed  by  him,  afford  abundant  proof 
that  in  his  person  and  character  the  race  of  noble  conserva- 
tors of  the  rights  of  the  people  and  of  principles  dearer 
than  life  or  position  had  suffered  no  degeneration. 

After  remaining  a  few  days  in  Augusta,  Governor  Jen- 
kins preceded  to  Washington  City  where  he  learned  that  a 
demand,  made  by  General  Ruger,  for  his  arrest  and  return 
to  the  State  of  Georgia,  was  in  the  hands  of  Secretary 
Stanton.  The  morning  after  this  information  had  been 
communicated,  Governor  Jenkins  received  a  letter  from 
General  Ruger  stating  he  found  upon  examination  that  the 
seal  of  the  Executive  Department,  and  the  books  apper- 
taining to  that  department  during  Governor  Jenkins' 
administration,  had  been  removed,  and  requiring  their 
instant  return.  To  that  communication  Governor  Jenkins 
promptly  responded  acknowledging  its  receipt  and  saying 


Life  and  Services  of  Hon.  C.  J.  Jenkins.         51 

he  had  been  credibly  advised  that  General  Roger  had  made 
a  formal  demand  upon  the  Secretary  of  War  for  his  imme- 
diate arrest  and  return  to  the  State  of  Georgia,  if  to  be 
found  within  the  limits  of  the  District  of  Columbia.  This 
being  so,  Governor  Jenkins  admonished  General  Ruger  that 
all  correspondence  between  them,  epistolary  or  otherwise, 
must  be  considered  at  an  end.  Nothing  further  was  heard 
from  the  Military  Governor  of  Georgia,  and  no  attempt  was 
made  to  arrest  Governor  Jenkins. 

After  remaining  some  weeks  in  Washington,  he  went  to 
New  York,  and  thence  returned  to  Baltimore  that  he  might 
give  such  attention  to  the  second  bill  filed  in  behalf  of  the 
State  of  Georgia  to  test  the  constitutionality  of  the  Recon- 
struction Acts,  to  which  allusion  has  already  been  made,  as 
the  nature  of  the  case  demanded.  That  bill  was  still  pend- 
ing when  the  Bulloch  Legislature  came  into  power  and 
ordered  its  dismissal. 

The  winter  of  1867-'68,  memorable  for  the  impeachment 
of  President  Johnson,  was  quietly  and  pleasantly  passed  in 
the  city  of  Baltimore  where  the  Governor  was  the  recipient 
of  marked  attention  and  many  courtesies.  During  the 
summer  of  1868  he  fixed  his  abode  in  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia, 
and  in  the  fall  returned  to  Baltimore  for  the  winter. 

The  spring  of  1869  found  him  again  in  Georgia,  whence, 
after  a  short  sojourn  among  friends,  he  departed  for  Europe. 
Some  eighteen  months  were  delightfully  spent  abroad.  To- 
ward the  close  of  1870  he  returned  to  his  home  in  the  village 
of  Summerville,  near  Augusta,  where  he  continued  to  re- 
side until  his  lamented  death,  leading  a  retired,  gentle  life, 
free  from  care,  and  happy  in  the  universal  esteem,  confi- 
dence, and  love  of  this  Commonwealth. 

His  last  public  service  was  rendered  as  President  of  the 
Constitutional  Convention  of  1877.  For  many  years,  and 
until  a  short  time  prior  to  his  demise,  was  he  President  of 
the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  University  of  Georgia.  In  the 
welfare  of  that  institution  he  ever  manifested  the  liveliest 
interest. 

But  twice  after  his  return  from  Europe  was  he  persuaded 


52         Life  and  Sewices  of  Hon.  C.  J.  Jenkins. 

to  enter  upon  employment— once  as  the  President  of  the 
Merchants'  and  Planters'  National  Bank,  and  again  as  the 
temporary  President  of  the  Augusta  factory.  Both  these 
positions  he  held  only  for  a  short  time.  Advancing  years 
and  physical  infirmities  inclined  him  to  a  dignified  repose. 
For  several  years  was  Mr.  Jenkins  a  law-partner  of  Judge 
A.  B.  Longstreet,  author  of  the  Georgia  Scenes,  and,  in 
after  years,  famous  as  a  clergyman  and  as  an  educator  of 
young  men.  While  in  the  active  practice  of  his  profession, 
the  bar  of  Middle  Georgia  was  remarkable  for  the  number 
and  ability  of  its  leading  members.  It  was  then  his  hon- 
orable lot  to  meet,  either  in  association  or  in  opposition, 
such  lawyers  as  Freeman  "Walker,  Richard  Henry  Wilde, 
Thomas  Flournoy,  Robert  R.  Reid,  Henry  H.  Camming, 
John  P.  King,  George  W.  Crawford,  Robert  Toombs, 
Francis  H.  Cone,  Alexander  H.  Stephens,  William  T. 
Gould,  A.  B.  Longstreet,  Herschel  V.  Johnson,  Joseph 
Henry  Lumpkin,  Andrew  J.  Miller,  Ebenezer  Starnes,  the 
brothers  Cobb,  and  others  whose  legal  acumen,  erudition, 
and  forensic  ability  linger  as  approved  traditions  and  well 
established  memories.  Not  infrequently  Mr.  Pettigru, 
Judge  Berrien,  Judge  Law,  Judge  Charlron,  Mr.  McAllis- 
ter and  Mr.  Ward  entered  this  legal  arena  as  competitors 
for  its  richest  prizes.  To  affirm  that  Mr.  Jenkins  was  the 
peer  of  the  knightliest  of  them  would  be  to  assert  what  no 
one  conversant  with  the  period  will  deny.  Earnest  and 
honest  in  the  assertion  of  the  rights  of  his  client,  careful  in 
the  preparation  of  his  cases,  well-versed  in  the  principles  of 
his  profession,  discriminating  in  the  application  of  prece- 
dents and  in  the  citation  of  authorities,  skillful  in  the  con- 
duct of  his  causes,  quick,  observant,  apt  in  the  examination 
of  witnesses,  potent  in  the  grouping  and  presentation  of 
testimony,  courteous  to  bench  and  bar,  eloquent  and  per- 
suasive in  his  appeals  to  the  jury,  and  yet  stooping  not  to 
wrest  a  verdict  upon  grounds  unwarrantable,  or  even  ques- 
tionable, in  Governor  Jenkins  were  combined  those  mental, 


Life  and  Services  of  Hon.  C.  J.  Jenkins.        53 

moral,  and  legal  qualifications  requisite  for  an  accomplished 
and  successful  advocate  and  counsellor.  No  safer  adviser, 
no  firmer  friend  could  be  found  in  the  fraternity  ;  and, 
when  the  occasion  demanded  and  the  emergency  called  for 
the  exercise  of  his  highest  powers,  so  sonorous  was  his 
voice,  so  impassioned  his  utterance,  so  impressive  his  ac- 
tion, so  convincing  his  argument,  so  fearless  his  attitude,  so 
fine  his  rhetoric,  so  masterful  his  oratory,  and  so  abundant 
were  his  resources,  that  he  towered  in  the  court-room  as  if 

"  The  whole  Law's  thunder  born  to  wield." 

Underlying  all  were  present  an  honesty  of  purpose,  a  con- 
scientious recognition  of  duty,  an  elevated  plane  of  thought 
and  conduct,  a  purity  of  life  and  character,  and  a  might  of 
moral  force  and  reputation,  the  want  of  which  no  intellect- 
ual gifts  can  supply  or  studied  art  long  conceal.  Confining 
himself  to  no  special  department  of  the  law,  Governor 
Jenkins'  practice  was  general,  embracing  whatever  offered 
on  the  common  law,  criminal,  and  equity  sides  of  the  court. 
While  filling  the  office  of  Attorney-General,  his  criminal 
business  was  extensive,  but  after  his  resignation  he  uni- 
formly declined  to  appear  for  the  prosecution.  Numerous, 
however,  were  his  retainers  for  the  accused  in  capital  cases, 
and  the  ability,  sagacity,  eloquence  and  success  displayed 
by  him  in  the  conduct  of  such  causes  were  conspicuous. 
During  a  large  part  of  his  professional  career  his  voice  was 
heard  in  evoking  the  weightiest  judgments  of  the  court,  in 
discussing  the  most  intricate  questions  of  civil,  constitu- 
tional, and  criminal  law,  and  in  displays  of  intellectual 
rivalry  and  effective  eloquence  worthy  of  all  admiration. 

As  a  Judge  upon  a  bench  of  last  resort,  he  was  patient, 
courteous,  discriminating,  just,  and  capable.  In  careful 
consideration,  scholarly  composition,  lucidity  of  argument, 
and  thorough  interpretation  of  the  law,  his  opinions,  handed 
down  while  he  was  an  associate  Justice  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Georgia,  are  excelled  by  none  in  the  whole  range 
of  the  Georgia  decisions. 

Although  the  political  reputation  of  Governor  Jenkins  ia 


54         Life  and  Services  of  Hon.  (J.  J.  Jenkins. 

almost  exclusively  associated  with  acts  done  within  the 
confines  of  Georgia  and  measures  connected  with  her  gov- 
ernance and  welfare,  he  was,  as  a  statesman  and  legislator, 
ever  loyal  in  his  devotion  to  the  highest  principles  of  right 
and  justice,  broad  in  his  views  of  public  policy,  alert  in  his 
advocacy  of  the  value  of  internal  improvements,  solicitous 
for  the  moral  and  intellectual  elevation  of  the  masses,  and 
entirely  above  and  beyond  the  machinations  and  shifts 
of  the  time-server,  the  demagogue,  and  the  modern  pol- 
itician. At  an  early  period,  recognizing  the  wisdom  of 
his  views,  the  reliability  of  his  judgment,  his  fidelity  to 
trust  reposed,  and  the  worth  of  his  services,  the  commu- 
nity in  which  he  dwelt  summoned  him  from  the  retirement 
of  private  life  and  kept  him  for  a  long  time  in  public  place. 
We  have  seen  that  on  more  than  one  occasion  he  just  missed 
of  stations  that  would  have  introduced  him  to  the  public 
gaze  of  the  nation,  and  widened  the  sphere  of  his  influ- 
ence. Whatever  their  potentialities  may  have  proven,  we 
are  justified  in  the  belief  that  Governor  Jenkins  there,  as 
elsewhere,  would  have  compassed  and  enjoyed  the  full  meas- 
ure of  honor,  usefulness,  confidence  and  power  appertaining 
to  them. 

To  his  exalted  and  heroic  administration  of  the  guberna- 
torial office  we  have  already  alluded,  and  we  can  only  add 
that  his  acts  in  this  connection  have  become  part  and  parcel 
of  one  of  the  bravest  chapters  in  the  political  history  of 
this  Commonwealth.  He  certainly  was 

"  So  clear  in  his  great  office  that  his  virtues 
Will  plead  like  angels,  trumpet-tongued,  against 
The  deep  damnation  of  his  taking  off." 

We  are  credibly  informed  that  General  Meade,  in  review- 
ing his  conduct  of  affairs  in  Georgia  under  the  Reconstruc- 
tion measures  of  Congress,  expressed  sincere  regret  that 
he  had  removed  Governor  Jenkins  from  the  gubernatorial 
chair. 

As  a  public  speaker  Governor  Jenkins  was  persuasive, 
magnetic,  convincing  and  eloquent.  He  possessed  the  fine 


Life  and  Services  of  Hon.  C.  J.  Jenkins.        55 

presence,  the  luminous  eye,  the  emotional  countenance,  the 
impressive  thought,  the  pathetic,  soul-stirring  utterance, 
the  admirable  action  which  move  the  understanding,  capti- 
vate the  will,  and  command  the  homage  and  the  emotions 
of  the  multitude.  On  the  stump  he  was  always  a  favor- 
ite orator.  At  the  bar  it  was  ever  deemed  a  pleasure  to  hear 
him.  In  his  more  studied  efforts  there  was  a  happy  combi- 
nation of  excellent  rhetoric,  chaste  imagination,  mature  re- 
flection, and  thoughtful  study. 

As  a  writer  and  speaker  of  the  English  language  he  had 
no  superior  among  his  companions  and  associates. 

Public  spirited— never  an  indifferent  spectator  of  the 
causes  and  incidents  which  formed  the  history  of  the 
period  ;  ready,  by  counsel  and  act,  to  promote  the  genuine 
welfare  of  the  community  in  which  he  resided  and  give 
proper  shape  and  tone  to  the  general  thought ;  jealous  of 
the  good  name  of  his  people  and  State  ;  earnestly  encourag- 
ing and  maintaining  an  elevated  standard  among  the  legal 
fraternity,  and  sympathizing  with  all  movements  which 
sought  to  compass  the  intellectual,  moral,  and  material 
growth  of  the  population,  Governor  Jenkins  on  all  occa- 
sions exerted  his  influence  in  support  and  advancement  of 
law,  order,  and  civilization. 

Genial  in  his  disposition,  frank  in  his  intercourse,  and 
dignified  in  deportment,  possessing  fine  conversational 
powers,  a  fund  of  anecdote,  and  a  wealth  of  personal  rem- 
iniscences of  men  and  events  most  entertaining,  his  society 
was  at  all  times  engaging  and  his  d  scourse  instructive. 
He  was  verily  a  noble  type  of  that  well-approved  manhood 
in  which  courtesy,  kindness,  dignity,  cultivation,  honor,  and 
charity  were  happily  blended. 

To  all  these  excellences  were  added  unswerving  integrity 
honesty  of  purpose,  purity  of  thought  and  act,  and  those 
crowning  virtues  born  of  an  ever  present  and  controlling 
religious  sentiment. 

We  fear  not  the  reproach  of  contradiction  when  we  sug- 
gest that  within  the  wide  borders  of  this  Commonwealth 
there  was  perhaps  no  one  who  enjoyed  in  such  an  eminent 


56         Life  and  Services  of  Hon.  C.  J.  Jenkins. 

degree  the  confidence,  the  love,  the  admiration  and  the 
veneration  of  his  fellow-citizens. 
As  the  years  roll  on  his  memory  will  not  be  forgotten. 

"  His  life  was  gentle ;  and  the  elements 

So  mix'd  in  him  that  Nature  might  stand  up, 

And  say  to  all  the  world,  '  Thin  was  a  Man  ! '  " 

Would  to  God  that  his  pure  thought,  love  of  virtue, 
patriotism,  devotion  to  truth  and  duty,  and  clear  conception 
of  all  that  constitutes  and  dignifies  exalted  manhood  and 
stimulates  civilization,  could  wholly  possess  our  souls  and 
abide  with  us  as  a  living  heritage. 

Sadly  of  late  has  Georgia  been  afflicted  in  the  loss  of  her 
distinguished  sons.  In  quick  succession  have  Ex-Governor 
Herschel  V.  Johnson,  Senator  Benjamin  H.  Hill,  and  Gov- 
ernor Alexander  H.  Stephens  followed  each  other  to  the 
tomb.  And  now  the  grass  is  not  yet  green  above  the  new- 
made  grave  of  him  who,  in  the  hearts  of  many,  was  and  is 
esteemed  as  the  "noblest  Roman  of  them  all." 

Bereft  of  wife  and  child,  and  smitten  by  disease,  this 
grand  old  man  lay  for  long  weeks  and  months  hovering 
betwixt  two  worlds.  In  this  extremity  his  patience  and 
fortitude  were  wonderful ;  his  Christian  faith  and  resigna- 
tion sublime.  Never  did  a  murmur  escape  his  lips.  When 
overborne  by  physical  weakness  his  mind  at  times  wan- 
dered and  his  memory  ceased  to  dwell  upon  the  present, 
visions  of  coming  glory  dispelled  the  gathering  shadows, 
and  his  latest  thoughts  were  of  the  Church  and  the  Com- 
monwealth. The  bravest  and  holiest  images  of  the  past 
were  near  him,  and  his  thoughts  were  intent  upon  all  that 
was  blessed  and  sublimated. 

And  so,  when  the  light  went  out  in  this  noble  dwelling, 
the  immortal  lamp,  trimmed  anew  by  angel  hands,  as  we 
believe,  was  borne  upward  and  placed  among  the  stars  of 
Heaven. 


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